Share this article
CEO Brian Armstrong Flags Self-Custody, DeFi Access as Coinbase Priorities
He said the exchange will be adding assets more quickly and creating a crypto app store, among other steps.
By James Rubin
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 1:18 p.m. Published Jun 29, 2021, 9:42 p.m.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) is “the future of where the industry is going,” according to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. In a Tuesday blog post he delineated how his cryptocurrency exchange will serve the growing demand for DeFi products and services.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
“We’re seeing crypto quickly mature … to the trading of thousands of new assets, and the adoption of new use cases" including DeFi, non-fungible tokens (NFT), smart contracts, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and more, Armstrong wrote.
Just as Coinbase has “helped people access bitcoin for the first time … we need to do the same for the decentralized cryptoeconomy," he said.
Armstrong wrote that Coinbase expects to add assets to the platform more quickly, broaden its geographic focus to ship products “that work globally” and construct a crypto app store, akin to Apple's.
In the more immediate future, Armstrong wrote, Coinbase would cut the length of its legal review to evaluate asset issuers from 70 to 12 questions and create a more efficient compliance and security review process. Coinbase will also construct what he termed “an experimental zone for new assets” ensuring the company can provide a fuller picture of their risks for customers, and take steps so that users can access “most assets for basic wallet functionality.”
Armstrong promised to send more products to new international markets, while still working with regulators “in more established markets,” and that “any app built on decentralized crypto rails will be accessible to users of the Coinbase app.”
He added that customers would have “the option to do self-custody of their crypto in the main Coinbase app.”
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Plume Secures ADGM Commercial License, Eyes Middle East RWA Expansion
Plume Network has received a commercial license from the Abu Dhabi Global Market, allowing expansion into the Middle East.
What to know:
- Plume Network has received a commercial license from the Abu Dhabi Global Market, allowing expansion into the Middle East.
- The license enables Plume to scale real-world asset origination and distribution across the Middle East, Africa, and emerging markets.
- Plume plans to establish a permanent office in Abu Dhabi by the end of the year, with commercial announcements expected in early 2026.
Top Stories
