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The chief executive of top US-based crypto exchange Coinbase says that the lack of clear crypto guidelines in the US has caused multiple issues within the industry.<\/p>\n
In a new interview<\/a> with CNBC, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says that clear regulatory rules are needed for the US digital assets industry as it continues to burgeon.<\/p>\n According to Armstrong, the lack of clear regulations has caused \u201cterrible things\u201d to happen, such as crypto firms collapsing or moving overseas and the US weakening as a global financial hub.<\/p>\n \u201cRoughly 56 million Americans have used crypto now. That\u2019s about 1 in 5 Americans. Just to give you a sense of scale, about 5x as many Americans have used crypto as have an electric vehicle. This is not some minority thing. It\u2019s a mainstream thing in American society. <\/em><\/p>\n We need to have clear rules that recognize the innovation potential of this technology but then also protect consumers from harm. In the absence of that, we have seen terrible things happen. The industry has moved offshores, we\u2019ve seen exchanges blow up, [and] we\u2019ve seen a weakening of America\u2019s dominance as a financial hub, as a technology leader.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n Armstrong goes on to comment about a judge recently ruling<\/a> in favor of Grayscale in its lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the crypto firm\u2019s application to create a spot market Bitcoin (BTC<\/a>) exchange-traded fund (ETF).<\/p>\n In the case, the judge ruled that the SEC must reconsider its position of denying Grayscale\u2019s bid to remain consistent. Armstrong, who notes that Coinbase has been named as the custodian in many ETF applications, says that the crypto exchange has much to benefit from the creation of Bitcoin ETFs.<\/p>\n \u201cETFs have been an important development. Coinbase has an important role to play. We have been named as the custodian in many of these ETF applications. Our view is that it\u2019s going to be really good. It\u2019s going to bring in new sources of capital into the crypto ecosystem. That\u2019s going to be good for crypto, but it\u2019s also going to be good for Coinbase.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n