At a recent Goldman Sachs Conference taking place this week, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says that crypto payments will follow instant messaging applications’ path toward widespread adoption. Indeed, he discussed the process, and how it creates a framework for increased reliance on Bitcoin and other tokens.
Armstrong notes that Coinbase’s Layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution has already lessened transition times to under one second. Moreover, the fees for those transactions have fallen below $0.01. Altogether, the lack of “friction” in these developments can pave a clear way for increased crypto adoption.
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Coinbase Says Bitcoin Can Be WhatsApp of Payments?
For the crypto market, a pathway to increased adoption has always been the goal. Bitcoin has taken massive strides so far in 2024. The asset became the first crypto-based ETF in the US after getting approval in January. Moreover, it saw an increased role in global finance throughout the year.
For Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, that kind of prominence is a sign of continued growth, as crypto payments can follow instant messaging’s pathway to increased adoption. Specifically, the immediacy of the process can increase the willingness for people to embrace it.
“If you had, fast, cheap, and global payments, what might that allow people to do?” Armstrong asked. “Maybe, sometimes on social media, people click the like button or they upvote/downvote something. You know, why can’t that be a small transaction? Right?”
Armstrong went on to say that crypto payments could fast-track transaction times. “Today in the US, people get paid every two weeks for their paycheck. Why shouldn’t you get paid every hour? Maybe this whole idea of payday lending could go away,” Armstrong added.
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The crypto platform’s CEO identified the potential for decentralized finance to reduce “friction” in economics. “Even small amounts of friction that are reduced, you see huge increases in adoption,” he said.
“For instance, text messages used to cost $0.25. There were about [25 billion text messages a day] at its peak. Today, with WhatsApp and iMessage, and other things… that are now free, there are hundreds of billions of messages sent every day.”
The parallel is certainly a strong one. The decreased cost of instant messaging transformed global communication. Indeed, on its current trajectory, cryptocurrencies are attempting to do the same thing.