The CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, referred to as for calm amid the autumn within the firm’s shares on Wall Avenue and defended that, regardless of the inventory market decline, the corporate goes by way of—in keeping with him—certainly one of its strongest moments.
In a message printed on the X social community on February 17, 2026, the supervisor said that “Coinbase and cryptocurrencies have by no means been in a stronger place.” Moreover, the American businessman said that the normal market could be underestimating the scope of the enterprise and the function it performs inside the transformation of the monetary system.
Armstrong mentioned he responded throughout a session with analysts to a query about why Coinbase is commonly “misunderstood or undervalued” by Wall Avenue. In his opinion, The corporate embodies a typical case of the so-called “innovator’s dilemma.”the place disruptive applied sciences generate resistance amongst established actors.
The world’s greatest disruptive improvements have adopted this sample. Simply take a look at circumstances like Uber, Airbnb, self-driving automobiles, the adoption of synthetic intelligence and even SpaceX versus NASA. Cryptocurrencies are straight disrupting Wall Avenue, so it is sensible that some on Wall Avenue would misunderstand cryptocurrencies or Coinbase. The neatest will undertake them. The stragglers will likely be left behind.
Brian Armstrong, founder and director of Coinbase.
As Armstrong defined, whereas a related a part of giant monetary establishments is already adopting companies linked to cryptocurrencies, one other phase stays skeptical. This division, he famous, is because of each financial incentives and inertia typical of the normal monetary system.
Working outcomes versus inventory market stress
Past the strategic narrative, Armstrong defended that The corporate’s fundamentals present related progress. Within the final three years, the alternate has expanded and diversified its enterprise traces, lowering its unique dependence on buying and selling commissions. Allow us to do not forget that, as CriptoNoticias has reported, Coinbase is the primary custodian of the bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) that help the ETFs.
In the identical X publish, the CEO reported that Complete buying and selling quantity on Coinbase grew 156% year-on-year and that its market share doubled. Likewise, he assured that the property saved on the platform tripled in a interval of three years and at the moment has 12 merchandise that generate greater than 100 million {dollars} yearly every. The corporate additionally reported all-time highs in metrics related to USDC and its Coinbase One subscription service.
Armstrong added that the figures beneath GAAP accounting requirements (Usually Accepted Accounting Ideas in the USA) embody unrealized good points or losses on cryptocurrencies held on steadiness sheet, which might have an effect on the online revenue studying. In accordance with him, if the adjusted outcomes are noticed, the corporate would have closed the final quarter with profitability even in a bear market setting.
Market notion is completely different
Regardless of this knowledge and the optimism that Armstrong tries to convey, the worth of Coinbase (COIN) shares continues to replicate discouragement on the a part of buyers.
The decline near 50% in comparison with its historic most (reached on July 18, 2025) reveals that part of the market nonetheless questions the valuation or the tempo of consolidation of the sector.
The distinction between operational efficiency and inventory market conduct leaves open the dialogue as as to if the present value responds to a brief undervaluation (as Armstrong believes) or to true structural dangers that Wall Avenue perceives within the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
On this context, it can’t be neglected that the collapse coincides with a second of direct curiosity conflict between Coinbase and the normal banking system (which has nice weight on Wall Avenue), particularly across the regulation of stablecoins and the seek for authorized frameworks such because the Readability Regulation.
Whereas for Coinbase stablecoins (reminiscent of USDC) are a basic piece, for conventional banking they signify a menace to their monopoly.
The dearth of clear definitions in Washington about who can situation these property and beneath what circumstances has generated a regulatory bottleneck that the large gamers on Wall Avenue use to justify their skepticism, or to purchase time whereas they attempt to launch their very own alternate options.
