Brian Armstrong has finally put an end to the speculation surrounding Coinbase’s future strategy - and he could not have been clearer. In response to the suggestion that Coinbase is the "Amazon of crypto," the CEO confirmed that the exchange intends to offer all major crypto services and is already well on its way to doing so.
Coinbase already offers all the major crypto services under one roof, including custody and trading, staking, stablecoins, lending and payments. Armstrong also provided a sneak preview of what’s to come, including tokenization tools, infrastructure for capital formation and additional entry points for businesses looking to use blockchain technology.
And that is not just talk. The day before, the company officially confirmed that users in the U.S. could trade perpetual futures on Coinbase Financial Markets (CFM), a development made possible by CFTC approval and one that had been a long time coming.
Access to perpetual futures for U.S. retail has been blocked for years, so this is a clear regulatory breakthrough and a competitive shot at offshore platforms.
Meanwhile, the Coinbase Wallet has evolved into something much more ambitious. Now rebranded as the Base App, it takes a super-app approach by fusing wallet features, Farcaster social integration, Zora media, DeFi protocols and even NFC payments into one ecosystem. It is clearly modeled on WeChat, but with a Web3 twist.
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team