Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has outlined an ambitious plan to move every stage of a startup’s journey, from incorporation to fundraising and public trading, onto the blockchain.
Speaking on the TBPN podcast, Armstrong described his vision for an onchain lifecycle where founders could incorporate their startups, raise seed rounds, receive instant capital in USDC (USDC) and eventually go public through tokenized equity.
“You can imagine this whole life cycle coming onchain,” he said, adding that such a shift could “increase the number of companies who go raise capital and get started out there in the world.”
Armstrong said startups will no longer need banks or lawyers to handle global transfers, as funding can be raised instantly through onchain smart contracts. Once capital arrives, founders can start generating revenue, accept crypto payments, access financing and even take their companies public directly onchain.
Related: Coinbase CEO reveals ‘private transactions’ are coming to Base
Bringing fundraising onchain
The Coinbase CEO noted that the fundraising process is currently “pretty onerous.” He suggested onchain fundraising to make capital formation “more efficient, more fair, more transparent,” leveraging Coinbase’s recent acquisition of fundraising platform Echo.
Echo, now part of Coinbase, has already helped more than 200 projects raise over $200 million. Armstrong said the company will initially operate independently but will gradually integrate with Coinbase’s ecosystem, giving founders access to its half-trillion dollars in custody assets and a global investor base.
“If we can have great builders come in who want to raise money and connect them with investors who have the money, we’re the perfect platform to help accelerate this,” he said.
Coinbase is also working with US regulators to enable broader access to onchain fundraising. Armstrong claimed that current accredited investor rules exclude many individuals from early-stage opportunities.
“In many ways the accredited investor rules are kind of unfair,” he said. “We’re hoping that we can find the right balance of consumer protection and also making these available to retail.”
Related: Coinbase splashes $25M to revive a podcast from the last bull run
JPMorgan sees $34 billion opportunity in Coinbase’s Base
Last week, JPMorgan Chase upgraded Coinbase to “Overweight,” citing major growth potential from its Base network and revised USDC rewards strategy.
Analysts said Coinbase is “leaning into” its Base layer-2 blockchain to capture more value from the platform’s expansion. They estimated that a potential Base token launch could create a $12 billion to $34 billion market opportunity, with Coinbase’s share valued between $4 billion and $12 billion.
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