Coinbase launches TV campaign to lobby for the crypto industry

The Coinbase bitcoin exchange launched a Washington TV advertisement emphasising the significance of digital assets as a technological innovation.

We’re running a TV campaign in DC this week to explain why crypto is the most important technology America has to update the financial system.

Lots of policy work to do to ensure America isn’t left behind. https://t.co/yTKI3PZWFG

— Brian Armstrong ?️ (@brian_armstrong) May 22, 2023

The company posted an expanded version of the video on YouTube. In it, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says that supporters of the view that cryptocurrency is purely speculative “do not see the forest for the trees.”

According to him, the industry is at an early stage, comparable to the early years of the internet’s spread.

“Essentially, cryptocurrency is not a financial product. It is a technology that can upgrade all kinds of financial products. Speed up settlement times and reduce the cost of sending money to relatives abroad.”

He stressed that the innovation was bound to appear and will not leave our lives.

The Coinbase chief executive warned that the United States could face a national-security issue due to technological lag driven by regulatory policy on cryptocurrencies. This has already happened with many advances in semiconductors and 5G technologies, he said.

In March, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) notified Coinbase of an investigation into listing procedures and a number of the platform’s products.

Armstrong called the regulator’s policy detrimental to the US financial sector. He said that the SEC under Gary Gensler began a “crusade” against the industry.

In April, Coinbase responded to the Commission’s notice, stating it was prepared to “vigorously defend itself.”