Brian Armstrong, CEO of the U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, is expected to meet with President-elect Donald Trump as he continues to announce personnel choices for his administration and government department heads.
According to a Wall Street Journal report on November 18, Trump intends to meet privately with Armstrong to discuss personnel appointments. Although the CEO of Coinbase has not made direct contributions to the Republican Party's 2024 campaign or PACs directly supporting Trump, Armstrong has stated that the exchange is willing to cooperate with Trump's administration.
CEO of Coinbase Brian Armstrong
It is currently unclear whether Armstrong or any Coinbase employees will be appointed to any role in the upcoming U.S. presidential administration. At the Bitcoin 2024 conference in July, while still a candidate, Trump expressed his intention to establish a "Presidential Advisory Council on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency" to "set transparent regulatory guidelines for the benefit of the entire industry" within 100 days of taking office.
Since the election results were announced on November 6, Trump has announced several potential choices for his administration and even threatened to bypass Senate confirmation to expedite the process in 2025. At the time of the announcement, the president-elect has not publicly revealed who he intends to nominate to replace SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, whom he promised to fire "on day one."
After the U.S. elections, Armstrong posted on X supporting Trump's initiative, the "Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)" – a newly formed department – under the leadership of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Trump has not yet chosen anyone to nominate as Secretary of the Treasury and SEC Chairman – both of which have a significant impact on the crypto industry. According to the American press, the CEO of the global financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald and Bitcoin enthusiast Howard Lutnick is one of the potential candidates for the Secretary of the Treasury position.
Lutnick's company is the custodian for Tether, and Lutnick has publicly supported Tether regarding its reserves. "USDT, the largest stablecoin in the world, is pegged one-to-one with the greenback and holds reserves in U.S. Treasury, Bitcoin, and gold," Lutnick stated at Bitcoin 2024 in the summer.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse also mentioned that he has spoken with those close to Trump about personnel appointments, and executives at Circle have also talked with Trump's transition team.
Brian Armstrong's change of perspective on U.S. politics
In 2020, Armstrong stated that the company would not support "any specific causes or candidates unrelated to our mission, as that distracts from our mission." However, his public stance seems to have changed significantly in 2023 after the exchange received a Wells notice from the SEC and the subsequent lawsuit for allegedly offering unregistered securities.
After the Wells notice from the SEC, Armstrong called on the crypto community to "vote for pro-crypto candidates" to achieve regulatory clarity for the industry. In 2024, he personally urged his followers on X to vote for Republican candidates in the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
Coinbase and Armstrong have also contributed approximately $46 million to the Fairshake PAC to support 2024 candidates that the committee believes have pro-crypto policies, many of whom won in their respective primaries and races. The exchange has donated an additional $25 million to the PAC to help "elect pro-crypto candidates" in the 2026 U.S. midterm elections.
Source: https://tapchibitcoin.io/ceo-coinbase-se-gap-trump-de-thao-luan-ve-viec-bo-nhiem-nhan-su.html