Author: Weilin, PANews
Under the adjustment of the crypto regulatory policy of the Trump administration, the landscape of the US crypto market has undergone important changes, and Coinbase, the leading US-based exchange, is facing a series of new changes.
From the easing of the regulatory environment to the expansion of the company's business, Coinbase has been very active recently. In February, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) withdrew its lawsuit against the company, marking the end of the US regulator's tough enforcement phase on the crypto market. At the White House Digital Assets Summit, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong enjoyed "VIP" treatment, further demonstrating the company's lobbying influence in Washington.
At the same time, Coinbase plans to expand its US workforce by about 1,000 employees by 2025, and has restarted its COIN token plan. The market also has rumors that the company may face acquisitions and become a potential target for traditional exchanges.
White House Summit: Coinbase CEO Enjoys "VIP" Treatment, Plans to Expand US Workforce by 1,000
After Trump's re-election, the first White House Digital Assets Summit became the focus of attention in the crypto industry, and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong was undoubtedly one of the most prominent executives at the summit. As a representative of the crypto exchange, Armstrong sat in the fourth position from the left of Trump, demonstrating his influence among the attendees of the summit.
The day before the summit, Trump signed an executive order announcing the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve and digital asset reserve. In a subsequent media interview, Armstrong said he was "absolutely" willing to serve as the government's crypto asset custodian in the context of the national reserve, and added that the company has already cooperated with multiple government departments in crypto asset custody and trading.
Coinbase's performance has also been impressive. Its full-year 2024 revenue grew by more than double to $6.564 billion, with a net income of $2.6 billion. In the fourth quarter, revenue reached $2.27 billion, up 88% quarter-on-quarter.
After the White House Digital Assets Summit, Armstrong tweeted that the summit was a historic day, and the US now has a strategic Bitcoin reserve and emerging regulatory clarity. This directly translates into economic growth for the US. Given this new growth, Coinbase plans to hire about 1,000 employees in the US this year and will continue to build in the US to ensure the US maintains a leading position in technology and finance. By 2024, Coinbase already had 3,772 employees, and this expansion is expected to further consolidate its market position.
SEC Withdraws Lawsuit Against Coinbase, Removing the Biggest Regulatory Obstacle
Although Coinbase successfully went public on Nasdaq in 2021, its development has been hampered by regulatory resistance from the SEC in recent years. On March 22, 2023, Coinbase received a Wells notice from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), indicating that the SEC plans to take enforcement action against Coinbase's staking products. Coinbase subsequently responded that the investigation was "hasty" and said it would continue to operate normally. The following month, Coinbase sued the SEC, asking a federal court to compel the SEC to respond to its petition the previous year, which had requested the SEC to clarify crypto-related regulations.
In June 2023, the SEC announced that it was suing Coinbase, alleging that it had been acting as an unregistered broker, exchange, and clearing agency since 2019, and demanded that Coinbase be "permanently enjoined" from related businesses. The SEC also accused Coinbase of failing to register its staking service as required by US securities laws.
However, after the Trump administration took office, there were changes in the SEC's top management. In February 2025, the SEC withdrew the lawsuit against Coinbase, ending the legal dispute between the two parties, and removing many obstacles to Coinbase's future business development.
Coinbase Restarts COIN Token Plan, Adjusts Listing Mechanism
The changes in the US regulatory environment have brought new market opportunities to Coinbase. On March 6, there was market news that Coinbase was pushing to tokenize its COIN stock again, as part of a broader effort to bring security tokens into the US market. The company had first attempted this move in 2020, but abandoned it due to regulatory hurdles. With the establishment of the SEC's new Crypto Assets Working Group, the company sees new opportunities to integrate blockchain-based securities into traditional finance.
Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas expressed optimism about regulatory progress at the Morgan Stanley TMT conference. Haas said, "I now believe that our US regulators are seeking product innovation and want to move forward." Haas revealed that Coinbase initially planned to list the security token representing its COIN stock, which is consistent with its vision of integrating blockchain into traditional finance. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong emphasized the potential benefits of tokenized securities, saying they can provide consumers with the ability to trade around the clock.
On March 10, according to the official announcement of Backed, the tokenized version of Coinbase stock $COIN, $wbCOIN, has been launched on the Base network. This token is 1:1 backed by $COIN stock, can be freely transferred, and has a legal claim on the value of the $COIN stock. However, Backed stressed that it is not affiliated with Coinbase and is only interested in the stock.
At the same time, Coinbase is adjusting its token listing mechanism to adapt to the rapidly changing crypto market. CEO Brian Armstrong has proposed using a "blacklist" model, allowing users and automated scanning tools to filter out scam projects, rather than pre-approving tokens.
Armstrong said that due to the overwhelming number of new tokens - nearly a million per week - Coinbase's manual review process is no longer sustainable. "Individual evaluation is no longer feasible," he wrote, adding that even regulators cannot keep up with the growth of new assets. This mechanism is essentially similar to Twitter's "Community Notes" system, but applied to the crypto industry.
Acquisition Rumors: Coinbase May Become a Top Exchange Acquisition Target
In addition to business expansion and regulatory breakthroughs, Coinbase is also seen by the market as a potential acquisition target. On March 8, according to Barron's report, Coinbase has the conditions to become an acquisition target, and if it can merge with a traditional exchange, it will be able to build a company with both professional knowledge and industry influence, thereby dominating the current fragmented crypto currency market. Currently, Coinbase's price-to-earnings ratio is around 22 times, with a total market value of about $52 billion, but the large US exchanges have the ability to make this deal happen.
The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), has a market value of $100 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 36, and its CEO Jeffrey Sprecher's wife Kelly Loeffler was a member of the Trump administration cabinet. The global futures trading giant CME Group has a market value of $93 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 26. Nasdaq is known for its technological strength and global network, with a market value of $47 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 41. If Coinbase can cooperate with the major US exchanges, it will be able to open the doors to power and markets, which may still be out of reach for it at the moment. Major investors may drive the acquisition of Coinbase by a top exchange, and the new company will be able to maximize investment returns as crypto moves from the financial frontier to the mainstream.
It now appears that with the adjustment of the Trump administration's crypto policy, the regulatory environment for the crypto industry has undergone a dramatic change, and Coinbase is a direct beneficiary of this change. The White House summit, the withdrawal of the SEC lawsuit, the restart of the token stock plan, and the potential acquisition rumors all indicate that this leading global crypto exchange may be entering a new growth phase, opening up imagination for its future development.
