Written by: Techub News Compilation

Introduction

On the eve of Coinbase's biannual "system update" conference, its co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong appeared on the well-known podcast "Sourcery with Molly O'Shea" for an in-depth conversation. This interview coincided with Coinbase's release of a series of significant product updates, including tokenized stocks, SEC-registered AI investment advisors, and unified global liquidity, marking the transition of this crypto giant from a mere trading platform to a comprehensive "intelligent" financial infrastructure. Armstrong not only shared specific product details but also elaborated on its core mission to "increase economic freedom in the world" and how to leverage AI and blockchain technology to fundamentally reshape the future of the financial system.

Summary

• Coinbase is undergoing a comprehensive reconstruction around "intelligence", with approximately 1,200 "full-time" AI agents collaborating internally and launching an AI advisor that provides real investment advice.
• It has introduced tokenized stocks that are truly backed 1:1 by stocks, aiming to allow the approximately 4 billion "unbanked" people worldwide to invest in high-quality U.S. companies, enabling 24/7 trading and easy transfer.
• Having received key regulatory approval, it will unify the order books and liquidity for U.S. and international clients, leveraging network effects to solidify its status as the "most trusted" crypto brand.
• Building a financial infrastructure for the future "agent economy", allowing AI agents to have independent financial accounts and make payments, laying the foundation for self-cooperating AI networks.

From Trading Platform to "Intelligent" Financial Infrastructure

Brian Armstrong made it clear that Coinbase is undergoing a profound transformation centered around "intelligence". This is not merely about integrating chatbots into products but is a comprehensive change from internal operations to external services.

Internally, AI has deeply integrated into the development process. Armstrong revealed that there are currently about 1,200 "full-time" AI agents working at Coinbase (calculated in equivalent full-time working hours). These agents appear as collaborators in Slack channels, participating in tasks such as code submissions and design. The traditional product team size of around 10 people is shrinking to 2-4 people, with even single-person teams emerging, as they can command 10 AI agents to work together. This transformation has led to a significant boost in productivity: the average code submission per engineer has doubled over the past year, while top "super builders" can accomplish up to 100 pull requests weekly using AI tools. More importantly, as the amount of code increases, the defect rate per line of code has actually decreased, achieving a dual leap in quality and quantity.

Armstrong's next step he envisions is a "recursive self-improvement" loop: by applying collected customer feedback (such as error reports or feature requests), AI will aggregate and analyze this data to generate priorities, which another group of AI agents will then use to plan and draft code, with humans ultimately just performing bulk reviews and approvals. This closed loop will greatly accelerate product iteration and continuously evolve the company's intelligence level.

Externally, the core product of AI is the Coinbase Advisor. Unlike the ubiquitous "disclaimers" found online, this is an SEC-registered AI advisor capable of providing real "investment advice". It is directly integrated into the Coinbase app, allowing users to interact with it in natural language. It can conduct market research, answer financial knowledge questions, and execute trades or implement tax-loss harvesting strategies based on users' account information and financial goals. Currently, investment advice still involves "humans in the loop" for final decisions, but Armstrong views the data accumulated in this process as a future key moat, aiming to build a "cutting-edge model" focused on the investment field based on these unique data sets.

Tokenization of Everything: The Vision of Stock On-Chain and "Everything Exchange"

In addition to AI, another major focus introduced by Armstrong is asset tokenization, with the core launch being tokenized stocks. He emphasized that what Coinbase is launching is not derivatives or synthetic assets, but actual tokens backed 1:1 by the underlying stock, similar to the relationship between USDC and the U.S. dollar. This role as a "trustworthy bridge" is precisely what Coinbase seeks to embody as the "most trusted brand in the crypto space".

He believes that tokenized stocks will bring about three transformations: first, it will democratize access. Approximately 4 billion people globally (almost half of the Earth's population) are unable to invest in high-quality U.S. companies through broker accounts; they can only hold cash or low-quality assets. Tokenized stocks will be accessible via smartphone, fundamentally changing this situation. Secondly, it will enable 24/7 trading, breaking the time constraints of traditional stock markets. Finally, stocks will become as easy to transfer and gift as any other token, such as gifting a share of Coinbase or NVIDIA stock at a nephew's birthday party, making asset transfer incredibly simple and modern.

Tokenized stocks are just the starting point. Armstrong elaborated on Coinbase's vision of the "Everything Exchange": trading all asset classes within a single account—millions of crypto assets, global stocks, pre-IPO contracts, commodities, prediction markets, etc. The benefits include enhanced capital efficiency (concentrated assets can achieve better margin and credit conditions) and a unified, 24/7 trading experience based on crypto rails. He believes that although many fintech companies talk about "financial super applications", Coinbase is already leading in breadth of integration and depth of execution, especially being the first to obtain key regulatory approvals in the U.S. (such as for perpetual contracts and options trading).

Armstrong specifically mentioned a recent trend: a torrent of venture capital is flowing into the pre-IPO markets of top AI companies like SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic. Coinbase is allowing retail investors to participate in the early growth of these companies by offering products like "pre-IPO perpetual contracts", which is indeed democratizing access. He criticized the current "accredited investor" regulations as essentially a "regressive tax" that makes the rich richer and proposed replacing it with a "financial literacy test" that would allow anyone, regardless of wealth, who passes the test to engage in private market investments.

Unifying Liquidity, Building Trust, and Responding to Regulation

Armstrong announced a critical advancement for exchanges: Coinbase has finally obtained regulatory approval in the U.S. to unify its global liquidity. Previously, due to an unclear regulatory environment, up to 80% of crypto trading volume was flowing overseas. Now, U.S. and international clients can trade on the same order book, and the liquidity will create network effects, greatly enhancing Coinbase's competitiveness.

Establishing trust in the controversial crypto industry is the cornerstone of Coinbase's success. Armstrong recalled several key decisions made at the company's inception: insisting on operating in the U.S. (rather than relocating overseas); operating under real names (instead of anonymously); actively seeking regulatory approval and even engaging with regulators proactively, even when not required; and eventually going public in the U.S., subjecting itself to rigorous financial audits and controls. He believes it is this long-term commitment to compliance and transparency, combined with excellent product design and customer service, that has forged Coinbase's image as "most trusted". He predicts that in 5 to 10 years, people using many crypto-based financial services may not even realize the underlying currency is cryptocurrency, simply because it is a faster, cheaper, and more convenient way.

Discussing regulation, Armstrong expressed optimism about the upcoming "Market Structure Bill" (also known as the "Clarity Act"), viewing it as a milestone opportunity for the crypto industry to achieve large-scale expansion in the U.S. He also mentioned the experience of winning a lawsuit against the SEC, as well as his mindset shift when facing negative coverage from traditional media like The New York Times. He believes the influence of traditional media on younger customer demographics has significantly decreased, and the company should communicate directly with users more through podcasts, Substack, X, and other "new media" while maintaining some effort to influence policymakers through channels like Politico. His experience is to stick to one's values, not apologize for them, focus on creating value, and that external noise will eventually not matter.

Laying Financial Rails for the AI Agent Economy

One of Armstrong's most forward-looking views is regarding the financial infrastructure of the future "agent economy". He believes that the current interaction pattern between people and AI (one agent per conversation) is about to become outdated. In the future, users will converse with a primary intelligent agent, which will coordinate hundreds or thousands of other specialized agents to perform complex tasks on behalf of users, including purchasing goods and services.

This creates a new demand: AI agents need their own financial accounts and payment capabilities. They do not have government-issued identification, cannot pass CAPTCHA validations, and cannot fill out traditional bank account opening forms. Therefore, a completely new financial system designed for AI natives is needed. This is precisely what Coinbase is building: providing self-custodial wallets for AI agents through tools like the Base network and MCP API, enabling them to hold assets, conduct high-frequency small payments, and hire other AI agents to form teams. Armstrong excitedly stated that building a financial infrastructure for this upcoming "agent economy" is one of the most cutting-edge and exciting tasks today.

In terms of strategies for using AI models, Coinbase also displays a pragmatic side. Armstrong found that open-source models, although lagging behind cutting-edge models by 3-6 months, are 99% cheaper in inference costs. The company uses intelligent routing middleware to assign requests to the most suitable (and economical) model based on the complexity of the query, supplemented by optimizations such as caching and budget reminders. This allows the company to effectively control the cost curve while the usage of AI tokens skyrockets. He predicts that within the next 12-18 months, 80% of the workload will shift to models that are 99% cheaper, with only 20% of tasks requiring the highest levels of intelligence utilizing cutting-edge models.

The Mission of Economic Freedom and Future Outlook

Throughout the entire dialogue, Armstrong repeatedly articulated Coinbase's core mission—"to increase economic freedom in the world". He referenced research indicating that countries with high levels of economic freedom not only perform better in terms of GDP per capita but are also associated with greater happiness, better environmental protection, lower corruption, warfare, and infant mortality rates. He believes economic freedom is the foundation of all civilizational progress.

He contrasted experiences in the U.S. and Argentina. Even in the relatively well-functioning financial system of the U.S., surveys show that 83% of Americans believe the existing financial system is failing to serve them well, complaining about high fees, long delays, and unequal access. In Argentina, hyperinflation and uncertainty about property rights foster widespread pessimism in society, where people lack the motivation to plan and build for the long term, as outcomes can be taken away overnight. Armstrong believes cryptocurrencies can systematically update the financial system by providing property rights that cannot be arbitrarily revoked (self-custodial wallets), near-instant and inexpensive global payments (such as USDC on Base), and tokenizing various assets, thereby creating more economic freedom.

Regarding the competitive landscape, Armstrong believes Coinbase faces different competitors in various fields: Tether in stablecoins (USDC); Binance in crypto exchanges; Robinhood in retail trading applications; and Stripe in developer payment platforms. However, he emphasized that Coinbase is the absolute leader in institutional business, with its deep crypto-native technology, most trusted brand, and diversified product matrix forming a composite advantage.

Looking ahead, Armstrong feels excited about the upcoming wave of "trillions of dollars in IPOs", with Coinbase aiming to become users' "primary financial account" through features like stock transfers and direct deposits (which earn interest and can automatically configure investment strategies). He firmly believes that by lowering fees, reducing friction, and democratizing access, the financial system update driven by cryptocurrencies and Coinbase will unleash tremendous economic prosperity, benefiting everyone worldwide.

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