Can now trade stocks on Coinbase.
The Everything exchange has launched 24/5 trading of US equities with zero commission.
Now frequent FinTech TV guest Bitwise CIO Matt Hogan says this is an example of the market responding to the SEC's declaration of Let there be super apps.
Now despite booming tray integration, the Industry is desperate to change the narrative.
All seasoned crypto investors are used to all the allegations of crime and fraud.
The current negative press cycle adds insult to injury as Bitcoin heads for its worst month since the Terra Luna crash.
Some of these headlines include crypto being used to fund tools that exploit US software and allegedly crypto being sent to sanction.
Iranian firms will joining me this morning is John, you know, head of strategy for Coinbase institutional and board member for.
Well John, good morning.
Thank you so much for joining us.
So first, take us through Coinbase launching 24/5 stock trading.
What does this say about the super app and also the future of accessibility in the markets.
Well, good morning, Remy.
Always great to be here.
Um, you know, I, I recall there always being a bifurcation of markets, uh, here in the US.
I worked for the New York Americanant Tile Exchange that was a commodities exchange, and we thought of ourselves as institutional focused, although some retail would come through the FCMs that was very, very different from the equity exchanges, which was very, very different from credit, etc. etc.
And I think what we're seeing, like with most of the rest of our lives, is technology does not require those stark separations, and there are tremendous advantages to having these assets traded in one place.
Convenience obviously is the first one, and you shouldn't underestimate the power of convenience.
I think most tech adoption is driven by, I think Elon Musk says the most entertaining option wins.
I'd argue the most entertaining and convenient option generally wins.
But down the road, A past convenience.
There are tremendous advantages for retail and institutions to begin to trade these assets through consolidated venues.
There are margin advantages.
There are speed advantages.
There are security advantages.
And so I think what we're seeing is gradual.
It's not going to, it's not going to be all at once.
These are really, really important economic systems, and I think you have to test them.
It takes time for them to, to adapt and change.
Um, but just like I got my first job with a bunch of guys screaming and yelling, using open outcry to trade commodity derivatives, I struggled to see a world where my daughters are my age and they're not, they don't have the convenience of purchasing a myriad of assets side by side, seamlessly and efficiently.
And John, while I have you here, I do want to get your take on what we're seeing in terms of price action for Bitcoin.
So for the crypto major in New York morning trade, we are looking at it soaring by 4% and gaining by 7%.
But we do have to keep in mind that Bitcoin is heading for its worst month since June 2022, so there's a lot of fear mongering out there regarding quantum and about the fact that gold is outshining Bitcoin as a hedge.
So do you think the industry actually needs to change the narrative, and where does it stand right now?
So look, I was always taught as a trader, among some of the best traders I looked at is, you stick with your thesis until the evidence tells you to not stick with your thesis.
So you have to be really, really confident in your research, but you have to be open to new evidence.
So the answer to the question of should the narrative change.
I would say, well, I would ask the following question back, which is what has happened in let's say the last 369 months?
What information do we have?
Concrete information, not a random research report that sort of states the obvious philosophical thesis and sinks, you know, hundreds of billions of dollars of value, most of which is recovering today.
Not speculation, not conspiracy theory, not, you know, uh, specious analysis, data analysis that, that, that takes volume of dollar and ignores percentage in terms of criminality and things like that.
But what has actually changed?
Um, and so the answer for me is nothing.
I, I, I, I, I can't point to anything over the last 69 months.
So, in terms of dramatically changing the narrative, I'd say no.
Um, again, we have to remember.
That I understand why the gold bugs are very excited right now.
They're, they've they've got the microphone.
I get it.
We had the microphone for the last 10 years.
They've got it now.
Just mathematically, Bitcoin was never going to be able to continue to accrue at the long-term percentage increase it did because it would be larger than the US economy.
So these, these pullbacks, these mean reversions, whatever you want to call them, it is a natural part of an asset.
Finding price discovery over time.
Uh, people who believe in this asset believe that that price will increase.
I, I can't say infinitely, but certainly increase beyond where it is now.
We're just beginning to see the use cases, uh, being leveraged by countries and people.
Uh, if you believe in the Citrini piece and you think that we'll all be led by AI overlords managing all of our personal finances, it is highly likely those agentic systems will use a modern form of currency.
So again, I don't see any thesis that's changed.
We have a better regulatory environment both here and globally.
We have better use cases.
We have increased adoption.
So changing the narrative entirely, no.
Adapting the narrative to the reality of new paradigms, of course, but we are still very, very early.
I'll note that it's only been this year that most major banks have conceded we need a blockchain strategy and have begun hiring aggressively towards building out that strategy.
That's a very new thing.
Last year, the new thing was retail retail access being pushed out through ETFs.
This year it's exchange and bank and government adoption.
And speaking of adoption, I do very quickly want to get your take on stable coin adoption.
So stripes annual letter saying stablecoin adoption is expanding beyond cryptos real world use cases.
So what does this say about the state of the industry that stable coins are shining so brightly.
We also got circle reporting earnings as well.
So what do you think is the future of stable coins?
So the crypto community is kind of split on this.
The original crypto purists view stablecoins as a little bit boring.
The Tradfi crossovers like myself kind of see or believe, I should say, this is, you know, incredibly exciting.
Uh, it, it, it massively proves out the use case for blockchain-based value transfer systems.
Uh, Think about mailing a check versus sending a wire.
Think about sending a wire versus using Venmo for ACH.
That sort of paradigm leap, that, that massive increase in speed and convenience and clarity and certainty, that's what we see with stablecoins.
Um, if you're lucky enough to have easy access to a wide variety of venues to transfer value.
Um, and you have the luxury of not, of not really not mattering to you if that value hits in seconds versus days, then it may not really seem important to you.
But there are billions of people around the world and many, many companies that really, really, that, that, that, that move from T+1 or T+3 to seconds or minutes is the difference between solvency and non-solvency.
And so, I think if you're lucky enough to be in a position where you don't need it, uh, Be be aware of that.
Uh, I think the majority of the planet could really, really use from faster, more secure, cheaper, uh, transactions.
So that's super, super exciting.
Um, it changes everything.
It really, it changes the way margin financing works.
It changes receivable rates, it changes, it change, it changes how much leverage businesses need to maintain to carry their float for a couple of days, which is really, really meaningful.
So, stablecoin growth.
Uh, maybe not the most exciting, uh, thing to talk about versus some of the cool stuff that's happening with zero Knowledge proofs and other stuff, uh, but More proof that blockchain is entering at a foundational level into the economic system.
It's the boring stuff that's going to change the world in some ways, not even knowing that you're using blockchain, but waking up one day and realizing, wow, this thing that used to take 2 days to clear or a week in some cases for international transfers now has cleared within seconds or minutes.
That's going to be what causes widespread adoption.
Well, John, we will have to leave it there for today, but thank you so much for joining me as always and thank you so much for all of your insights.
Great to be here.
Uh, have a great day.
Take care.
