From the easing of the regulatory environment to the expansion of the company's business, Coinbase has been very active recently. At the White House Digital Assets Summit, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong enjoyed "VIP" treatment, further demonstrating the company's lobbying influence in Washington.
Author: Weilin, PANews
Cover: Coinbase
Under the adjustment of the crypto regulatory policy of the Trump administration, the landscape of the US crypto market is undergoing important changes, and Coinbase, as the top domestic crypto exchange, is facing a series of new changes.
From the easing of the regulatory environment to the expansion of the company's business, Coinbase has been very active recently. In February, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) withdrew its lawsuit against the company, marking the end of the US regulators' tough enforcement phase on the crypto market. At the White House Digital Assets Summit, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong enjoyed "VIP" treatment, further demonstrating the company's lobbying influence in Washington.
At the same time, Coinbase plans to expand its US workforce by about 1,000 employees by 2025, and has restarted its COIN stock Token-ization plan. The market also has rumors that the company may be acquired, becoming a potential target for traditional exchanges.
White House Summit: Coinbase CEO Enjoys "VIP" Treatment, Plans to Expand 1,000 Employees in the US
After Trump's re-election, the first White House Digital Assets Summit became the focus of attention in the crypto industry, and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong was undoubtedly one of the most prominent executives at the summit. As a representative of the crypto exchange, Armstrong sat in the fourth position from the left of Trump, demonstrating his influence among the attendees of the summit.
The day before the summit, Trump signed an executive order announcing the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve and a digital asset reserve. In a subsequent media interview, Armstrong said he was "absolutely" willing to serve as the government's crypto asset custodian in the context of the national reserve, and added that the company had already collaborated with multiple government departments on crypto asset custody and trading.
Coinbase's performance has also been impressive. Annual revenue growth exceeded 100% in 2024, reaching $6.564 billion, with net income reaching $2.6 billion. In the fourth quarter, revenue was $2.27 billion, up 88% quarter-on-quarter. (Related reading: Detailed analysis of Coinbase's latest financial report: Annual revenue in 2024 close to $6.6 billion, Q4 achieved the largest quarterly revenue in three years)
After the White House summit, Armstrong tweeted that the White House Digital Assets Summit was a historic day, with the US now having a strategic Bitcoin reserve and emerging regulatory clarity. This directly translates into economic growth for the US. Given this new growth, Coinbase plans to hire about 1,000 employees in the US this year and will continue to build in the US to ensure the US maintains a leading position in technology and finance. By 2024, Coinbase will have 3,772 employees, and this expansion is expected to further consolidate its market position.
SEC withdraws lawsuit against Coinbase, removing the biggest regulatory obstacle
Although Coinbase successfully went public on Nasdaq in 2021, its development has been hampered by regulatory resistance from the SEC in recent years. On March 22, 2023, Coinbase received a Wells notice from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), indicating that the SEC planned to take enforcement action against Coinbase's staking products. Coinbase subsequently responded that the investigation was "hasty" and said it would continue to operate normally. The following month, Coinbase sued the SEC, asking a federal court to compel the SEC to respond to Coinbase's petition the previous year, which had requested the SEC to clarify crypto-related regulations.
In June 2023, the SEC announced that it was suing Coinbase, alleging that it had been acting as an unregistered broker, exchange, and clearing agency since 2019, and demanded that Coinbase be "permanently enjoined" from related businesses. The SEC also accused Coinbase of failing to register its staking service as required by US securities law.
However, after the Trump administration took office, there were changes in the SEC's top management. In February 2025, the SEC withdrew the lawsuit against Coinbase, ending the legal dispute between the two parties, and removing many obstacles to Coinbase's future business development.
Coinbase resumes its COIN stock tokenization plan and adjusts its listing mechanism
The changes in the US regulatory environment have brought new market opportunities for Coinbase. On March 6, there was market news that Coinbase was pushing to tokenize its COIN stock again, as part of a broader effort to bring security tokens into the US market. The company had first attempted this initiative in 2020, but abandoned it due to regulatory hurdles. With the establishment of the SEC's new Crypto Assets Working Group, the company sees new opportunities to integrate blockchain-based securities into traditional finance. Coinbase's Chief Financial Officer, Alesia Haas, expressed optimism about regulatory progress at the Morgan Stanley TMT conference.
Haas said: "I now believe that our US regulators are seeking product innovation and want to move forward." Haas revealed that Coinbase's initial plan was to list through the issuance of security tokens representing its COIN stock, which is consistent with its vision of integrating blockchain into traditional finance. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong emphasized the potential benefits of tokenized securities, saying they can provide consumers with the ability to trade around the clock.
On March 10, according to an official announcement from Backed, the tokenized version of Coinbase stock, $wbCOIN, has been launched on the Base network. This token is 1:1 backed by $COIN stock, is freely transferable, and has a legal claim on the value of the $COIN stock. However, Backed stressed that it is not affiliated with Coinbase and is only interested in the stock.
At the same time, Coinbase is adjusting its token listing mechanism to adapt to the rapidly changing crypto market. CEO Brian Armstrong has proposed a "blacklist" model, allowing users and automated scanning tools to filter out scam projects, rather than pre-approving tokens.
Armstrong said that due to the overwhelming number of new tokens - nearly a million per week - Coinbase's manual review process is no longer sustainable. "Individual evaluation is no longer feasible," he wrote, adding that even regulators cannot keep up with the growth of new assets. This mechanism is essentially similar to Twitter's "Community Notes" system, but applied to the crypto industry.
Acquisition rumors: Coinbase may become a top exchange acquisition target
In addition to business expansion and regulatory breakthroughs, Coinbase is also seen by the market as a potential acquisition target. On March 8, according to a Barrons report, Coinbase has the conditions to become an acquisition target, and if it can merge with a traditional exchange, it will be able to create a company with both professional expertise and industry influence, thereby dominating the currently fragmented cryptocurrency market. Currently, Coinbase's price-to-earnings ratio is about 22 times, with a total market value of about $52 billion, but the large US exchanges have the ability to make this deal happen.
The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), has a market value of $100 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 36, and its CEO Jeffrey Sprecher's wife Kelly Loeffler is a member of the Trump administration cabinet. The global futures trading giant CME Group has a market value of $93 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 26. Nasdaq is known for its technological strength and global network, with a market value of $47 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 41. If Coinbase can collaborate with the major US exchanges, it will be able to open the doors to power and markets, which may currently be out of its reach. Major investors may drive the acquisition of Coinbase by a top-tier exchange, and the new company will be able to maximize investment returns as the cryptocurrency industry gradually moves from the financial frontier to the mainstream.
It now appears that with the adjustment of the Trump administration's crypto policy, the regulatory environment for the crypto industry has undergone a dramatic change, and Coinbase is a direct beneficiary of this change. The White House summit, the withdrawal of the SEC lawsuit, the restart of the stock tokenization plan, and the potential acquisition rumors all indicate that this global leading crypto exchange may be entering a new growth phase, opening up imagination for its future development.
Disclaimer: As a blockchain information platform, the articles published on this site only represent the personal views of the authors and guests, and are not related to the position of Web3Caff. The information in the articles is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice or offer, and please abide by the relevant laws and regulations of your country or region.
Welcome to the official Web3Caff community: X(Twitter) account | WeChat reader group | WeChat public account | Telegram subscription group | Telegram discussion group
