Coinbase founder: Why Crypto is crucial for America's future?

Author: Brian Armstrong

Compiled by: DAOSquare

Critics often claim that Crypto has no real use beyond speculation and illegal activities. However, over 50 million Americans have purchased cryptocurrencies, and globally, the number of people buying cryptocurrencies has exceeded 400 million. Strong data from third parties shows that illegal activities account for less than 0.5% of transaction volume. So, what are over 400 million people actually using it for?

Indeed, many people were initially attracted to Crypto for its investment properties, and speculative behavior led to a massive influx of participants. But what is the underlying mindset driving this interest?

In the early 1970s, the United States (like many countries before it) severed any link between the dollar and hard currencies like gold. For over 50 years, a common pattern in human history has played out in the U.S.: because the government can "print" money for free, spending has increasingly exceeded income, ultimately costing the American people through high inflation and economic downturns after a few years or decades.

Ordinary people may not understand the nuances of quantitative easing and federal budget deficits, but they do notice the rising prices of gas, food, and education, and they increasingly feel that something is wrong with our economy. In fact, 87% of Americans believe the current financial system needs an update. More than half of young Americans either use the current financial system only occasionally or not at all.

This brings us to the first and arguably most important use case of Crypto: cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin becoming a new hard currency. Like gold, Bitcoin is not backed by any single government-supported national currency. In the U.S. and any other country, inflation acts as a regressive tax, hurting the poorest segments of society the most. Bitcoin, with its fixed supply, is a solution to this problem. Even if we say that inventing a digital native hard currency is the only use of Crypto, it is still a world-changing technology, but this is just the beginning.

For over the past five years, the Crypto industry has been working to build infrastructure to update our financial system and expand the utility of Crypto. These use cases are no longer promises for the future; they are happening now. Here are some of the most popular examples:

• Digital Dollar. While there is high demand for the dollar in many parts of the world, many people cannot open dollar bank accounts, and dollar-backed "stablecoins" have changed that. The scale of digital dollars has now exceeded $100 billion. Digital dollars like USDC are crucial for our global competition with China, which has already begun working on a digital yuan since 2019.
• Fast, Cheap, Global Payments. Currently, we still lose about 2% on every credit card transaction, with wire transfer fees at $30, and many transactions in the U.S. still take days to settle. With the development of blockchain "Layer 2," you can now send USDC anywhere in the world in one second for about one cent. Currently, the trading volume of dollar-backed stablecoins is approaching $9 trillion (more than the combined total of Mastercard, American Express, and Discover).
• Creator Economy. The historical sales of NFTs have exceeded $62 billion, allowing artists to establish direct relationships with their fans, eliminating expensive intermediaries. Whether in music, gaming, visual arts, or video, Crypto helps establish digital provenance to ensure artists are compensated.
• Decentralized Social Media. While it is still early days, decentralized social (or DeSo) ensures that you own your data rather than being controlled by large tech companies, and you will never be censored. Each post is digitally signed to prove who the original author is, helping to combat false content that may arise from AI. Anyone can aggregate their data across all social media into a single front-end interface.

Crypto is not just a new asset class; it is the future of money. Today's system is rife with intermediaries, high fees, delays, and other inefficiencies, making it difficult to access and unfair.

The future of money is more open, free, efficient, and powered by Crypto. Crypto is the most important technology for updating the global financial system, and it can drive America forward. In fact, this is crucial to ensuring the future of the dollar as a reserve currency and America's position as a technology and financial center.

Embracing cryptocurrency and establishing clear regulatory rules for Crypto is the most patriotic thing Americans can do. If you are a cryptocurrency holder in the U.S., consider joining StandWithCrypto.org to help ensure that pro-Crypto candidates are elected in the upcoming elections. If you are a policymaker, please help push for a clearer regulatory framework in the U.S. to protect consumers and promote Crypto innovation. You can support bipartisan legislation such as the "Stablecoin Transparency Act," the "21st Century Financial Innovation and Technology Act," and the "Responsible Financial Innovation Act." Crypto needs rules that match its goals, and now is the time to take action.