Coinbase CEO Predicts Crypto Payments Will Eventually Take Off

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is still convinced that cryptocurrency payments will eventually gain traction during this decade. "It's funny to look back on how I thought payments was going to be the first killer app for crypto, and it turned out trading was the best business in crypto for the first 10 years," he said in a social media post.

Armstrong pointed to the growing stablecoin volume as a sign of the growing adoption of crypto in the payment industry. Apart from stablecoins, there are also human-readable names, simpler onboarding, and other factors that might push crypto payments into the mainstream. 

The crypto billionaire recently took to the X social media network in order to share the company's first job offer. 

The job offer, which was posted on the website of prominent startup accelerator Y Combinator, dates back to March 2012. It touted "an emerging tech" that could potentially change the world.

The post claimed that a digital currency like Bitcoin or its derivative would be a boon for payments. Armstrong was looking for a co-founder who would be able to share his vision of creating "Paypal for Bitcoin" that would be able to disrupt transaction fees. 

"You must be technical, have a passion for this space, and have insane work ethic. Let me just stress again that you must be a deeply technical builder (I am one too). There is no room for idea people at this stage," Armstrong stressed. 

It predicted that crypto would initially see substantial adoption in developing countries without stable currencies. Despite the fact that the tech was promising, crypto was still too cumbersome and confusing for ordinary people. 

Armstrong shared a screenshot of the Bitbank prototype. Bitbank was the early iteration of Coinbase. The startup, which was focused on payments, allowed users to send BTC via email. Bitbank was being actively promoted by Armstrong via Tumblr, Reddit, and other social media platforms. 

Shortly after that, Armstrong ended up meeting early Bitcoin entrepreneur Ben Reeves. The duo co-founded Coinbase Beta.