Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong sees the year-long crypto spot trading bear market nearing an end as the CLARITY Act vote approaches.
Is the Next Crypto Bull Market Close?
Speaking on CNBC’s Thursday “Squawk Box” session, Armstrong said the CLARITY Act dominated discussions both publicly and inside the Oval Office.
“I’m pretty optimistic it’ll get over 60 votes,” Armstrong said, arguing that both sides have secured roughly 90% of what they want from negotiations.
He also offered an upbeat assessment of the crypto market following Bitcoin’s (CRYPTO: BTC) latest rebound to the highest levels in two months.
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He noted that crypto spot trading has been in a bear market for roughly a year, approaching the approximate duration of previous downturns.
Armstrong sees three potential catalysts converging for the next bull market for spot trading in crypto.
The duration of the current downturn, the Sep. 15 CLARITY Act vote and BTC’s historically stronger performance during October, November and December following halving cycles.
Coinbase Looks Beyond Bitcoin Trading
Armstrong stressed that Coinbase has become less dependent on Bitcoin spot trading during the downturn.
Bitcoin spot trading now accounts for only about 12% of Coinbase’s revenue, he said. Meanwhile, areas including crypto derivatives, prediction markets, stablecoin payments and real-world asset tokenization have continued growing.
Armstrong said the company wants to offer tokenized equities in the U.S. as well.
He pointed to the work by SEC Chairman Paul Atkins on an innovation exemption that could provide a pathway for trading crypto securities and tokenized stocks domestically.
The biggest longer-term opportunity, however, could be “agentic finance” or “AI-fi.”
Armstrong expects AI agents to eventually outnumber humans and require financial infrastructure to transact and perform tasks autonomously.
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