Coinbase Adds Charles Schwab Director to Board, Steps Up Pro-Crypto Lobbying Efforts
Coinbase added Chris Dodds — a Charles Schwab director — to its board, in another sign that a marriage between the burgeoning cryptocurrency market and traditional finance looms on the horizon.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said Dodds’ impressive 21-year career with Charles Schwab will be instrumental in bolstering the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange’s business model.
Charles Schwab, one of the largest banks and brokerage firms in the United States, has $3.3 trillion in assets under management. Coinbase is the largest U.S.-based digital currency exchange.
Brian Armstrong: Coinbase Is Expanding
“I’m pleased to announce that Chris Dodds, who serves on the board of directors of the Charles Schwab Corporation and as a senior private equity advisor, is joining the Coinbase board of directors,” Armstrong wrote on the Coinbase blog .
“His extensive expertise will be an asset to the Coinbase leadership team as we focus on scaling our business.”
Chris Dodds has been chairman of Schwab’s risk committee board since 2014, and was a senior adviser at the Carlyle Group for 10 years. Dodds is currently a senior adviser to The Cynosure Group, a private-equity firm.
Dodd’s hiring comes just one month after Coinbase joined two of the biggest cryptocurrency companies in the United States (Circle and the Digital Currency Group) to launch a lobbying group in Washington, D.C. called the Blockchain Association, as CCN.com previously reported.
The lobbying group was rolled out amid growing regulatory and media scrutiny of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, whose erratic price fluctuations have drawn heavy criticism from billionaire moguls Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
Three Pro-Crypto Bills Introduced In Congress
A week after the Coinbase-backed Blockchain Association launched, the Congressional Blockchain Caucus introduced three bills that will support the development of digital currencies and blockchain, as CCN.com has reported.
The Congressional Blockchain Caucus urged the U.S. Congress to support blockchain and virtual currencies, saying the disruptive technologies could revolutionize the world of banking, supply-chain management, cybersecurity, and healthcare.
“Legislators should be embracing emerging technologies and providing a clear regulatory system that allows them to flourish,” said legislator Tom Emmer, co-chair of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus.
It was a dismal summer for the crypto market, which has been roiled by cyber hacks, investigations into price manipulation, and regulatory crackdowns on fraud and money-laundering.
Despite the setbacks, Wall Street and the investment community are waking up to the realization cryptocurrencies aren’t going anywhere.
As a result, bitcoin evangelists like tech billionaire Tim Draper predicts that the market capitalization of the crypto market will soar to $80 trillion within the next 15 years, as CCN.com has reported.
Last month, Draper also doubled-down on his bold $250,000 bitcoin price target for 2022.
“This is going to be so big, so if you see a dip [in prices], jump in,” Draper said. “I am more confident in my bitcoin than I am in the U.S. dollars in Wells Fargo.”
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