Is the cryptocurrency industry a matter of national security? Brian Armstrong, cofounder and CEO of crypto exchange Coinbase, seems to think so, and argues it needs to be considered in the same class as goods and infrastructure vital to the U.S. economy. The reason for his impassioned plea might have to do with the SEC’s recent crypto crackdown, including an investigation into whether Coinbase itself improperly allowed Americans to trade digital assets that should have been registered as securities. “One of the strongest policy arguments for cryptocurrency is that it’s a national security issue,” he posted to Twitter, in a potential attempt to once again draw attention to the legal gray area in which crypto falls. Armstrong said the industry must not be allowed to go the way of microchips, whose bleeding-edge processors found in Apple devices are made exclusively in Asia, or for that matter fifth-generation mobile network equipment that is dominated by China’s Huawei, Ericsson of Sweden, or Finnish group Nokia. “The U.S. missed [out] on semiconductors and 5G, which is now largely manufactured offshore. It can’t afford to have cryptocurrency go offshore as well,” he wrote, adding this was valid for every country.
Full story : Coinbase CEO: Crypto is up there with chips and 5G as a matter of ‘national security’.