The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: <_ALACRA_META_ABSTRACT>Okay. With that past, let's start with the big picture one. We've seen tremendous regulatory changes this year in Congress as
well as across a variety of regulatory agencies, and we're still waiting on the Senate to address the Clarity Act.
If we get the Clarity Act finalized, is that all we need to -- from a regulatory perspective to see the world adopt crypto more
broadly or -- and start to move more on chain? Or do we need other changes in your view?
Brian Armstrong - Coinbase Global Inc - Co-Founder, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. So thanks for having us. And the short answer is yes, if we get the Clarity Act passed, that is a strong foundation for
crypto. And just to zoom out and remind everybody, the GENIUS Act passed earlier this year. This is providing regulatory
clarity around stablecoins.
The Clarity Act that just got through the house and is now another version of it's being debated in the Senate right now is for
market structure, which is all the non-stablecoin crypto assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, et cetera. And so the combination of
these really creates a foundation that we can build this entire industry on.
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SEPTEMBER 09, 2025 / 5:50PM, COIN.OQ - Coinbase Global Inc at Goldman Sachs Communacopia &
Technology Conference
I think it dramatically increases the total addressable market of crypto. It furthers this idea that we've been saying for a long
time, which is that crypto is going to be eating financial services. It's really updating the financial system in all kinds of ways,
not just trading, but now payments is the second really big category.
We're also seeing capital formation and these other things coming into picture with tokenized equities, and we can talk about
that all in a moment. And so the regulatory picture could not be better from, say, a year ago, right?
It's not just that we've gotten legislation now passed with GENIUS and hopefully, Clarity is making good progress here later
this year. It's also that the United States has a strategic Bitcoin reserve. The regulators like at the SEC that we're working with
are actually embracing this industry instead of trying to curtail it.
And we actually have executive orders on a continuous basis coming out that are clarifying these rules that were -- the lack
of clarity was being weaponized in the past. And so it couldn't be really a better environment. And I think where the US is
leading, we're seeing the rest of the G20 follow. In the past, we saw Europe had MiCA legislation.
There were -- like Singapore had something interesting. There was pockets of the world that were embracing crypto where
the prior administration in the US was really kind of fight against it. Now, that the US is leaning in, every other G20 country
has a little bit of fear of missing out, and they're trying to race to catch up.
And so it's really hard to understate the importance of this regulatory clarity tailwind that we now have in our business. Coinbase
is going to be the leader in this as the most trusted brand, but we're also going to provide the infrastructure to power a lot of
the companies and banks and payment service providers and fintech's that are now coming in. We can talk a little bit about
that later, but that's a big growth area for us.
Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Really clear there. Maybe just on the competitive backdrop, you talked about capital formation. You alluded to it a second
ago. So that's clearly evolving rather fast. We're seeing companies come public. So maybe you could just set the stage for
how you see the competitive landscape today and perhaps how it's evolved over the past year?
Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Okay. One of the essential questions -- essential, but important questions that I get is around the value of having the exchange
and custody under one roof. Maybe you could just talk about how that supports the Coinbase offering versus others?
Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Makes sense. Okay. So let's turn to growth. There's a lot of growth. There's a lot of stuff going on in Coinbase right now and
across the industry. But I thought what stuck out to me was what you talked about in the last earnings call around the everything
exchange. Maybe you could just give us a little more insight, expand a little bit on the vision there?
Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Okay. So let's dig in on a couple of those that you just touched on. So maybe just starting with the decentralized exchange. I
think correct me if I'm wrong, the point there is that you'll be able to have more assets on the platform. But maybe you could
expand a little bit on that.
Also maybe just touch a little bit on monetization. Obviously, it's a little bit different there. And then maybe also on the derivative
side, just update us on your organic aspirations in derivatives, and maybe we can come back to Deribit on a subsequent
question.
Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: So basically, the exchange fee you keep centralized and decentralized it stays with the DEX.
Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Okay. Perfect. Sorry, I know I threw a lot of you that question, but maybe just on the organic derivatives aspirations across
product, geography.
Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Yeah.
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SEPTEMBER 09, 2025 / 5:50PM, COIN.OQ - Coinbase Global Inc at Goldman Sachs Communacopia &
Technology Conference
Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Okay. So maybe one more. This market -- the derives markets, and maybe that's also happened in traditional markets where
you're seeing more retail options, [0DTE], for example, taking off. So maybe you could just talk about why futures came first
and your aspirations for options. I imagine that perhaps the reason -- one of the reasons you would want to have derivatives
because they have an options business and you could roll that out in the US, but is that a potential as well?
Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Excellent. Okay. So let's turn to all the other areas. We only got the trading thus far, and you have so many other things going
on. Let's talk about tokenized equities, the buildup. There are a lot of players who are trying to build up some version of that.
Maybe just your thoughts preliminarily on how you might structure your offering. And I guess the important question of do
you plan to allow customers to take their assets off your platform, maybe day one and maybe over time? And then what about
on the regulatory side, do we need from the SEC to have that in the US.
Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Great. Okay. So another thing that I think you've been very focused on recently, and we've seen some announcements around
these partnerships. And so if I were to summarize, it seems like you're providing various forms of infrastructure solutions to
these non-crypto native companies. Why do these brand name companies choose Coinbase in your view?
And do you think that if -- as they become more acquainted with crypto and the ecosystem, will they eventually bring things
in-house or they stay with Coinbase?
Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Okay. So one other area, which is just your aspirations in lending. You touched on a few different areas where you're growing
your lending book, whether it's margin, whether it's prime brokerage. Maybe you could just talk about your aspirations there
and the capital intensity, obviously, is one element of lending. So how do you think about that?
Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Excellent. So there's so many areas of growth, but I do want to touch on just a few other areas of the P&L given this is an
investor conference.
Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Makes sense. Okay. So last earnings call, you indicated this will be a heavy investment year. Makes sense with all this growth.
You did also do the convertible raise, suggesting the investment will continue. Maybe just help us think through the longer-term
investment spend, how this has changed given how the opportunity has evolved and beyond just the next quarter?
Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Very clear. Okay. So there are so many other questions I have, but we only have two minutes. So I just want to, Brian, give
you the chance to touch sort of on all the things and sum it up. You have a lot of irons in the fire. What do you think investors
are underappreciating about the Coinbase opportunity set? Anything big that we haven't touched on?
Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Excellent. Well, with that, we're out of time. Thank you so much, Brian. Thank you so much, Alesia.
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