Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong says the next major piece of U.S. crypto legislation is nearing a critical vote as blockchain adoption across the financial system continues to expand.

Will Crypto Update the Entire Financial System?

Speaking on the Katie Miller Podcast on Aug. 26, Armstrong said President Donald Trump recently brought industry participants and regulators together to advance the CLARITY Act, which he expects to come up for a Sep. 15 vote.

He said the bill would establish clearer crypto market rules and make the regulatory framework more durable across future administrations.

The Coinbase CEO pushed back against the idea that cryptocurrency remains primarily a Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) or libertarian movement.

While Armstrong described Bitcoin as "digital gold," he sees blockchain expanding across payments, lending, prediction markets and real-world asset tokenization.

"Stocks are getting tokenized now," Armstrong said, adding that various investment funds are also moving on chain.

When asked about his favorite cryptocurrency, he said, “Bitcoin is the original,” before highlighting stablecoins such as USDC (CRYPTO: USDC).

AI Agents—A Major Catalyst?

Armstrong sees agentic finance emerging as another major catalyst for blockchain adoption as he predicts more AI agents than humans in the future world.

Those agents will need to execute real-time, small-value transactions globally, creating demand for a financial infrastructure capable of handling machine-to-machine payments efficiently.

"We need a new financial system for them," Armstrong said. "That’s a whole another thing that’s going to be solved by crypto."

He added that Coinbase is already experimenting with AI-driven financial tools, including Coinbase Advisor, and expects agentic trading to become increasingly important.

Armstrong favors a light regulatory approach to AI, warning excessive rules could slow innovation. Crypto, however, requires clearer regulation because it operates within an already heavily regulated financial system.

Economic Freedom Through Crypto

Armstrong also connected cryptocurrency ownership with broader economic freedom. Self-custody enables people to control their assets without traditional intermediaries or the risk of being debanked.

He said that principle remains central to Coinbase’s mission of expanding economic freedom and moving finance onto crypto rails.

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