Co-founder and CEO of Coinbase Brian Armstrong has criticized Singapore for doing too little to fulfil its promise of becoming a cryptocurrency and web3 development and investment hub.
According to Armstrong, the city-state is moving too slowly and creating too many roadblocks as it does so.
“Singapore wants to be a Web3 hub, and then simultaneously say: ’Oh, we’re not really going to allow retail trading or self-hosted wallets to be available”, Armstrong said.
He argued that banning retail trading contradicted the original promise made by the city-state, and said that it would not be possible for Singapore to fully meet its promise to transform itself into a hub for crypto innovation if it was to go ahead and limit important products.
Coinbase is adamant about the role it wants to play in Singapore, and the cryptocurrency exchange has already received an in-principal approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The company is only one of 17 so far to have been able to get approval.
Armstrong insisted: “We believe that Web 3.0 is the future and what we want to do is to ensure that the money which can transact on this ecosystem is considered a safe asset, safe currency. As long as that is the direction, we are OK.”
He continued by adding that centralized exchanges and custodians should be treated like other financial service businesses so that the industry can truly move forward and operate in a meaningful and beneficial way for all, rather than be constricted by hawkish regulation.
Essentially, crypto should be put on par with other financial services, and only by doing so can the crypto industry thrive and succeed in the long-term, while also proving a valuable part of the economy in equal measure.
Coinbase recently attributed the slowdown in its own results to the volatility of the sector.
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