- Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, outlines a vision for instant and free global crypto payments.
- Armstrong’s plan involves integrating Layer-2 solutions, improving on-ramps, and simplifying the user experience.
- The initiative faces potential challenges, including the question of decentralization.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has set a new goalpost for crypto. He envisions a future where crypto payments are not just an alternative but a preferred method of transaction – instant, free, and global.
This ambitious plan, if realized, could revolutionize the global payments infrastructure and challenge the dominance of traditional payment giants like Visa and Mastercard. But is it viable?
Armstrong’s Vision
On July 25, Armstrong took to Twitter to share his vision for the next step in crypto evolution – making payments instant and free globally. He believes achieving this will require significant work from all stakeholders, including Coinbase.
On its end, Coinbase is working on enabling these payments with its wallet. The Coinbase Wallet will enable encrypted and decentralized payments thanks to the XMTP protocol. According to Coinbase, the protocol will support all XMTP-compatible apps.
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Armstrong says that there is still a significant amount of work to bring crypto to the masses. The key focus areas for now include integrating Layer-2 solutions, improving on-ramps, and simplifying the user experience. The CEO believes the magic threshold is to get the average payment under one cent and confirmed in under one second. He thinks that achieving this would result in more payments moving to crypto.
Despite the potential of cryptocurrencies to improve global payment infrastructure, the current reality is far from ideal. Crypto payments today are not very user-friendly. Still, there is a need for alternative payment systems.
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Notably, traditional payment systems like Visa and Mastercard require significant fees. Armstrong’s vision aims to make crypto payments easy and mainstream, challenging these established giants.
On the Flipside
- Block CEO and Bitcoin maximalist Jack Dorsey called out Armstrong in response to his tweet. He asked why Coinbase continues to ignore Bitcoin and the Lightning Network.
- In replies to Armstrong’s tweet, Solana’s founder Anatoly Yakovenko argued that the Solana Network was a better payment solution than Bitcoin.
Why This Matters
The realization of Armstrong’s vision could be a game-changer for crypto traders and the broader crypto ecosystem. It could lead to a significant increase in the adoption of crypto payments, boosting the value and utility of cryptocurrencies.
Read more about Coinbase and its CEO:
Brian Armstrong: The Coinbase CEO Leading Cryptocurrency Adoption
Read more about Meta’s plans for the Metaverse:
Is Meta’s AI Pivot Making Metaverse Take the Back Seat? Zuckerberg Says No
