The head of U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, is likely to meet with President-elect Donald Trump as Trump continues to announce personnel picks for his administration and heads of government departments.
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal on November 18, Trump plans to meet privately with Armstrong to discuss the appointment. The Coinbase CEO has not indicated that he has made any direct contributions to the Republican Party's 2024 campaign or to political action committees (PACs) supporting him, but said ahead of the US election that the cryptocurrency exchange would be open to working with the Trump administration.
It remains unclear whether Armstrong or a Coinbase employee might have a role in the incoming U.S. administration. At the Bitcoin 2024 conference in July, then-candidate Trump said he planned to create a “presidential advisory council on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies” to “design transparent regulatory guidance for the benefit of the entire industry” within 100 days of taking office.
Since the election results were announced on November 6, Trump has floated a number of potential picks for his administration, even threatening to bypass Senate confirmation to push for a 2025 nomination. At the time of the announcement, the president-elect had not publicly said who he planned to nominate to replace Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler, whom he promised to fire “on day one.”
Armstrong posted on X after the US election in support of at least one of Trump’s initiatives, the ‘Department of Government Performance’ — not an actual department unless created by Congress — led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Bitcoin News reached out to Coinbase for comment but had not received a response by press time.
Brian Armstrong's Changing Stance on American Politics
In 2020, Coinbase CEO stated that the company would not support “any cause or candidate that is not directly aligned with our mission because it distracts from our mission.” However, his public position appeared to change significantly in 2023 after the crypto exchange received a Wells notice from the SEC and a subsequent lawsuit alleging it offered unregistered securities.
Following the SEC’s Wells announcement, Armstrong called on the crypto community to “elect pro-crypto candidates” to bring regulatory clarity to the industry. In 2024, he personally urged his X followers to vote for Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
Coinbase and Armstrong also contributed approximately $46 million to the Fairshake Political Action Committee to support 2024 candidates the committee deemed pro-crypto, most of whom won their primaries and races. The exchange contributed an additional $25 million to the committee to help “elect pro-crypto candidates” in the 2026 U.S. midterm elections.
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