November 9, 2023
By Anjali Kochhar
Brian Armstrong thinks that would-be developers will utilize the opportunity in the bear market to develop these cryptocurrency proposals, which range from flatcoins to on-chain marketing.
The CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, has shared his top ten predictions for the future of cryptocurrencies, expressing optimism that developers would be able to capitalize on the current bear market to advance their products.
In an Aug. 30 presentation and blog post, the CEO of Coinbase outlined his vision for the future of cryptocurrency and the ideas he thinks will succeed in the digital asset market.
He said, “I decided to share my top ten ideas in the hopes that someone will go out and build them,” and then remarked, “Ideas are cheap.”
He began by talking about the idea of a “flatcoin,” which is a decentralized stablecoin that follows inflation to maintain purchasing power. It may be supported by an algorithmic approach or a basket of assets.
Armstrong mentioned programs like Truflation and Ampleforth, which “offer a way to potentially track inflation on-chain today, to further decentralize it.”
According to him, the reason for this was that fiat-backed stablecoins “suffer from inflation and seizure — just like fiat money” and that consumers are hesitant to spend Bitcoin.
A different idea was “on-chain reputation,” which is a mechanism assessing wallet addresses or ENS names according to on-chain activities. It would be utilized for financing, ratings, and preventing fraud and be comparable to Google’s PageRank.
Armstrong also emphasized the possibilities of Web3 “onchain ads,” which are advertisements that, unlike Web2 ads, which are view- or click-based, would pay out based on on-chain actions. It might have wallets that control which advertisements to display and smart contracts that define payouts.
Armstrong presented a different approach called “onchain capital formation,” which democratizes fundraising and enables the next generation of ICOs and businesses to raise money on-chain in a reliable and compliant manner.
Armstrong said, “Capital formation globally is still way too high friction,” before pointing out that the ICO hysteria had a purpose.
Armstrong expressed optimism about the potential of a cryptocurrency jobs and tasks marketplace to facilitate globally job searches, enable cryptocurrency payment for jobs, and reduce difficulties associated with cross-border payments. Recently, Coinbase and X (previously Twitter) collaborated to introduce a jobs posting service.
“Privacy for layer 2,” Armstrong’s sixth concept, allows private transactions to occur on L2s rather than just on public blockchains.
“Transparency is a feature in many cases, but most economic transactions should not be made public,” he stated.
Other concepts included greater real-world asset tokenization, on-chain games with asset ownership, and a peer-to-peer exchange that operated entirely on the blockchain.
Since players can really hold in-game assets like NFTs, on-chain games are already a reality in the cryptocurrency space, enabling the creation of metaverse worlds and economies. Tokenization of real-world assets, such stocks, commodities, real estate, and other assets, is already in use globally.
In the coming years, the tokenization of illiquid assets is predicted by a recent Boston Consulting Group analysis to become a multi trillion-dollar industry.
Armstrong came up with “Software for Network States,” a set of tools to assist newly established municipalities and cities in managing voting, taxes, governance, and on-chain services.
He continued, saying, “Many entrepreneurs will look back in five years and wish they had started a crypto company in 2023.” Bear markets, he said, are for building.
Coinbase is preparing for the first-ever Coinbase Ventures Builder Summit, which will take place in October in California. Armstrong’s recent public appearance may be a move to generate buzz about the event.
About the author
Anjali Kochhar covers cryptocurrency stories in India as well as globally. Having been in the field of media and journalism for over three years now, she has developed a sharp news sense and works hard to present information that goes beyond the obvious. She is an avid reader and loves writing on a wide range of subjects.
