Decentralized finance (DeFi) uses open-source protocols and smart contracts to allow global value transfer without intermediaries. It offers continuous access, asset portability, and instant settlement, promoting financial inclusion.

GENIUS stablecoins give the dollar a digital, programmable form, enabling faster and cheaper global payments. The GENIUS Act correctly regulates them standards that match their risk profile, which is structurally lower than a bank deposit's.

Quantum computers threaten blockchain cryptography. We detail the threat and provide a roadmap for the urgent, measured transition to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) to secure digital assets now.

The rapid growth of the global gig economy has created significant financial hurdles for independent workers, including delayed payments and difficulty proving income for credit. Blockchain technology offers a solution by providing portable recordkeeping and faster payment systems that allow freelancers to build stable, verifiable financial identities across multiple platforms.

We recommend the EU to adopt a strategy enabling competitive, regulated euro stablecoins as core infrastructure for digital financial markets. This prevents dollarization, complements the digital euro, and requires revising MiCA rules on reserves and remuneration.

Outdated U.S. tax rules for digital assets create excessive compliance burdens and millions of low-value 1099-DAs. The paper proposes reforms: a de minimis threshold, sales aggregation, and cash-equivalent treatment for stablecoins.

Much of the internet is structured around a simple constraint: payments are too expensive to be small. Traditional payment systems impose fixed fees and minimum transaction sizes that make it impractical to charge a few cents. Emerging tools built on crypto infrastructure can change that, they enable what might be called micro-access and micropayments.

Settlement finality lies at the heart of financial stability. When settlement is slow, uncertain, or exposed to after-the-fact reversals, the system must absorb significant risks. Traditional finance has safeguards around these vulnerabilities, yet delays, collateral burdens, and infrastructure fragilities persist.

Property management and mortgage lending in the United States are often still shaped by manual processes, fragmented records, and layers of intermediaries, but blockchain and crypto technologies offer an opportunity to modernize housing finance in ways that improve efficiency while advancing financial inclusion

Our new paper: From the Unbanked to the Unbrokered: Unlocking Wealth Creation for the World, argues that the real divide is not just between higher and lower earners—it’s between people who can access capital markets and those who are locked out of them. Read the two page summary now

Decentralised Identity (DID) offers a revolutionary model for managing digital credentials, putting you, the individual, firmly in control. Enabled by blockchain technology, DID eliminates the risks of centralised 'honeypots' and extensive data duplication inherent in traditional siloed and federated systems.

For decades, income growth from capital has dramatically outpaced that from labor, but capital ownership remains a privilege of the few. We must bridge this divide by transitioning from the current system that excludes the majority to one that empowers them. The solution lies in technology, not just policy. By harnessing the transformational potential of tokenization and open blockchains, we unlock global markets for billions of savers and those wishing to raise capital. When the barriers of traditional financial infrastructure disappear, access to investment opportunities becomes as normal as owning a phone. This allows ordinary people to finally capture the upside from innovation and economic growth. This is how we narrow the capital chasm and increase economic freedom.

Vertically-integrated digital asset firms that combine trading, custody, and settlement deliver better customer outcomes by lowering costs and improving user experience, all while reducing credit and settlement risk via prefunding mechanics and real-time, ledger-based settlement.

New research from Lin William Cong demonstrates that stablecoins can expand opportunities for banks to offer faster, more efficient payment services; pose little to no risk to traditional deposits and lending; and are compatible with broader financial stability.

Public tokens are one of the most visible aspects of the crypto ecosystem, helping to align users, developers, and validators in systems that rely on decentralized consensus rather than centralized control.

The GENIUS Act provides the regulatory clarity, risk guardrails, and institutional backing needed to transform stablecoins into mainstream payment tools.

A durable GENIUS Act rule should simply uphold the law’s plain text—prohibiting issuers, not users, from paying interest on stablecoins. Efforts to expand this into an “indirect” ban risk suppressing innovation to protect legacy profits; regulators should apply common sense and let consumers decide how to use their own money.

The X402 payment protocol enables seamless, secure, and programmable transactions for crypto and agentic commerce. It provides a common standard for autonomous agents, smart contracts, and digital wallets to exchange value across open and interoperable networks.

Concerns that stablecoins will drain deposits from U.S. banks and curtail lending have resurfaced as the market grows. These arguments echo familiar worries from earlier innovations like money market funds. Yet they fail to account for how and where stablecoins are actually used, and what they contribute to financial modernization.

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are unique digital assets that use blockchain technology to verify ownership and authenticity of items, both digital and physical. Their potential extends far beyond art and collectibles—offering new ways to manage identity, automate contracts, and enable fractional ownership across industries.

The G20’s cross-border payment reforms are falling short—costs remain high and transactions slow—because legacy systems cannot meet the 2027 targets. Stablecoins already deliver faster, cheaper, and more transparent payments, and policymakers should formally recognize their effectiveness by creating frameworks that accelerate their responsible adoption.

Blockchain technology has transformed how financial systems record, verify, and exchange value without relying on traditional intermediaries. Among its most compelling applications is onchain lending, where smart contracts can create a transparent, programmable, and globally accessible alternative to conventional credit markets.

Crypto and blockchain technologies rely on protocols as the core frameworks that govern how decentralized systems function. These rules define how value is transferred and how communities collaborate, expanding security and efficiency while providing the adaptability needed to foster ongoing innovation in digital markets.

Gas fees play a central role in everyday interactions with decentralized networks. These transaction costs, which fluctuate with network demand, not only influence the affordability of everyday use but also shape innovation in scaling solutions. By driving the development of more efficient architectures and fee-optimization tools, gas fees play a big role in shaping blockchains' affordability and sustainability across finance, gaming, and beyond.

Tokenisation offers the EU a strategic opportunity to re-architect its capital markets around open, permissionless, and programmable systems delivering faster settlement, lower costs, greater transparency, enhanced resilience, and broader investor access.

As blockchain systems mature, oracles can serve as key bridges between digital networks and external data. By enabling smart contracts to securely access information like prices, government data, or even the weather, oracles help expand blockchain technology’s potential to power finance, supply chains, insurance, and more.

As digital assets become more integrated into finance, suitability standards must evolve beyond legacy frameworks. Policymakers have the opportunity to modernize consumer protections that reflect peer-to-peer transactions, programmable tools, and user control—ensuring safety while supporting innovation in decentralized markets.

Crypto streamlines payments by enabling faster, cheaper, and borderless transactions, reducing reliance on intermediaries and unlocking more inclusive, efficient, and resilient financial networks.

ZKPs can preserve the integrity of financial compliance while dramatically improving privacy, efficiency, and security.

Staking allows users to actively support blockchain security and efficiency while earning rewards, creating a more participatory and sustainable financial ecosystem.

Similar to how countries hold gold or foreign currencies to stabilize their economies and protect against shocks, a strategic bitcoin reserve involves intentionally holding bitcoin as a hedge against inflation, currency risk, or geopolitical uncertainty.

User-friendly platforms and clear regulations for crypto and blockchain technology can enhance consumer protection by making digital assets safer and more accessible for everyone. With every transaction recorded on a secure, immutable ledger, the blockchain can also help law enforcement trace fraud and hold bad actors accountable.

Research shows that stablecoins do not undermine lending, but rather expand the financial ecosystem and reinforce the US dollar. Critically, and as recognized by stablecoin legislation, they offer an opportunity to modernize the domestic payment system by freeing consumers from the hidden subsidies embedded in swipe fees and foregone interest from low-yield checking accounts—if policymakers embrace rather than resist innovation.

We examine Coinbase data and find that among crypto transfers that are possible remittances, stablecoins are playing an ever greater role, particularly over the last three years.

In the U.S., crypto owners represent a diverse range of backgrounds and political affiliations—and these Americans call for clearer digital asset regulations that foster innovation and enhance consumer protection.

Crypto and blockchain technology can advance sustainable finance by incentivizing renewable energy projects, harnessing excess energy, and supporting job creation.

Coinbase outlines policy priorities for the EU’s MiCA review, urging proportionate rules for DeFi, optional smart contract certification, multi-issuer stablecoins, and reassessing the ban on interest-bearing stablecoins.

The White House’s Digital Assets Report marks a landmark moment that affirms crypto as a cornerstone of the next era of finance. This report is the most forward-looking crypto policy framework in U.S. history and offers a roadmap for thoughtful digital asset integration both at home and abroad.

Stablecoins present an opportunity for community banks and other small banks, and a recent study found that they are not a significant threat to bank deposits.

Crypto and blockchain can enhance financial security through transparent, traceable systems that support law enforcement and help detect illicit activity—functioning within established regulatory frameworks that continue to evolve alongside the technology.

Composability is a defining feature of crypto and DeFi ecosystems, enabling developers to combine and build on existing protocols like digital building blocks. This modularity accelerates innovation, reduces duplication, and fosters an open-source economy where tools and applications evolve rapidly—driving more efficient, user-centric financial systems that scale with demand.

Crypto and blockchain are driving financial inclusion by empowering unbanked and underbanked Americans with accessible financial tools.

Permissionless networks are the foundation of open, interoperable digital economies. Because anyone can access, build on, or transact within these systems without needing approval, they create a level playing field for innovation and participation. This openness unlocks real-time settlement, automated execution through smart contracts, and seamless value transfer across borders, platforms, and communities.

Coinbase’s response to ESMA highlights how MiFID II should be updated for a digital-first era—simplifying disclosures, enabling direct access, and recognizing blockchain infrastructure.

Crypto and blockchain power real-world solutions—making finance more accessible, data more transparent, and services more efficient across industries like healthcare, government, and beyond.

Self-hosted wallets are natively onchain tools that allow individuals and institutions to securely store and manage their digital assets without relying on intermediaries. They enable direct access to tokens, identity credentials, and smart contract interactions, supporting financial sovereignty, privacy, and portability across decentralized networks. For policymakers, recognizing and preserving the right to self-custody is essential to ensuring open, secure, and inclusive participation in the digital economy.

Crypto and blockchain technologies can help enable agentic AI systems to operate autonomously and securely. As natively onchain tools, digital assets support real-time transactions, programmable incentives, and interoperability. This synergy unlocks new models of decentralized coordination, where intelligent agents can transact, enforce rules, and contribute to digital ecosystems without central intermediaries.

In a blockchain-based economy, digitally native assets are not simply digital versions of traditional instruments—they are born and function onchain. This fundamental distinction enables properties like real-time settlement, programmability, and composability, offering transformative potential for how value is created, exchanged, and governed in digital systems.

Crypto and blockchain technologies offer the housing sector powerful tools to increase security, transparency, and efficiency. By digitizing property records, streamlining mortgage processes, and enabling new forms of financing, these innovations can reduce costs, minimize fraud, and expand access to homeownership.

Crypto and blockchain technologies offer healthcare systems new tools to operate more securely, transparently, and efficiently. From streamlining patient record management to securing supply chains and modernizing billing and payments, these innovations can improve care delivery and reduce administrative costs.

Crypto and blockchain technologies offer local governments new tools to operate more transparently and efficiently. By modernizing payments, improving recordkeeping, and fostering economic participation, crypto can help local governments better serve their communities.

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are the backbone of our economy, but they often face significant barriers to securing financial success and global reach. Crypto and blockchain technology offer tools that can enable faster, cheaper, and more inclusive financial infrastructure, empowering small businesses to compete in a global, digital economy.

Blockchain-based gaming leverages crypto technology to create open, player-owned economies where users can truly own in-game assets, earn rewards, and participate in decentralized virtual worlds—offering more transparent, interoperable, and community-driven alternatives to traditional gaming platforms.

Blockchain technology can transform supply chain management by creating a transparent, tamper-proof system that not only streamlines operations but also fosters accountability and trust among participants.

Delivering humanitarian aid is a complex challenge, particularly in conflict zones, disaster areas, or regions with weak financial infrastructure. But crypto can help by enabling organizations to deliver funds directly to recipients – faster, more securely, and with greater accountability.

Remittances are a vital lifeline for millions around the world, but face high fees and delays. Crypto and blockchain technology offer a faster, cheaper alternative to traditional remittance channels, transforming how money moves globally.

Crypto and blockchain technology can dramatically expand financial inclusion by providing secure, low-cost access to money and financial services for billions who are unbanked or underserved.

In Coinbase’s recent response to the Financial Stability Board’s peer review, we urge the FSB to revisit the global regulatory framework for digital assets it set forth in 2023, recognizing the ongoing global shift toward a more supportive and innovative regulatory approach.

Crypto mining plays a critical role in securing decentralized networks, and is increasingly integrating renewable power sources and driving innovation in carbon tracking and energy efficiency—offering new tools for sustainable infrastructure.

Crypto and blockchain technology are not just financial innovations, but key to economic security and geopolitical stability. By advancing clear rules for digital assets, US policymakers and regulators will help ensure that crypto innovation remains aligned with democratic values and our national interests.

The rise of memecoins showcases the power of online communities and blockchain technology to create new forms of digital value and foster innovation, while their speculative nature means that participants should approach them with a clear understanding of the risks involved.

The intersection of crypto, blockchain technology, and AI can create more secure, efficient, and decentralized systems by enabling trustless transactions, transparent and immutable data management, and intelligent automation, driving innovation across finance, governance, and digital economies.

Decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePINs) use blockchain technology to coordinate and incentivize the development of real-world infrastructure, enabling more efficient, transparent, and community-driven alternatives to traditional, centralized systems.

In Coinbase’s recent response to the European Commission’s call for evidence on the European Savings and Investment Union, we outline key recommendations that will help unlock the transformative effects of crypto and blockchain technologies.

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are blockchain-based entities governed by smart contracts and collective decision-making, enabling transparent, efficient, and community-driven management of resources and projects without reliance on traditional hierarchies.

Decentralized social media leverages blockchain technology to create open networks where users can control their data, interact across platforms, and access new economic opportunities without relying on centralized intermediaries.

Stablecoins are blockchain-based digital assets designed to maintain price stability, offering a reliable medium of exchange for payments, remittances, decentralized finance, and cross-border transactions.

Smart contracts are self-executing programs on the blockchain that provide secure, transparent, and efficient solutions for payments, logistics, gaming, and more.

Layer 2 blockchains help make blockchain transactions faster and more efficient, making decentralized apps for activities like shopping, gaming, and managing finances more practical for everyday use.

Crypto wallets enable users to securely send and receive crypto, and also serve as the gateway to onchain experiences, where users can interact with thousands of decentralized apps in finance, gaming, the creative arts, and more.

Decentralized ID (DiD) is a groundbreaking innovation that uses blockchain technology to bring more privacy, security, and control to our identities.

Tokenization creates digital versions of real-world assets like cash, art, or real estate on blockchains, enabling faster, cost-efficient, and transparent transactions while enhancing liquidity, reducing risks, and minimizing reliance on intermediaries.

Whether it’s artists, musicians, writers, or developers, blockchain and crypto offer new ways to monetize, distribute, and protect creative work that are already redefining the creator economy.

In a recently published paper, the Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation explored issues that decentralized exchanges (DEXs) pose for financial regulators. The authors found that the best course of action is to take a light approach to DEXs to bolster economic growth while reducing transaction costs.

Users can protect themselves from common scams by staying vigilant and following these simple steps.

As we move from an online to onchain world, crypto and blockchain technology offer solutions that empower individuals to protect their privacy while transacting, creating, and communicating digitally.

With DeFi, you can do most of the things that traditional financial (TradFi) service providers support—earn interest, borrow, lend, buy insurance, trade derivatives, trade assets, and more—but it’s faster and doesn’t require paperwork or a third party.

Blockchain is a revolutionary technology that serves as the backbone for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. At its core, a blockchain is a decentralized and distributed digital ledger that records transactions in a secure, transparent, and immutable manner.

At its core, cryptocurrency is decentralized digital money, designed to be used over the internet. Bitcoin, launched in 2008, was the first cryptocurrency and remains the most widely known and influential.

This paper envisions a modern financial system that leverages tokenization built on open, permissionless networks, empowering users, improving compliance, and driving innovation and growth.

This paper offers a concise overview of the potential for asset tokenization on permissionless blockchain networks to enable a more responsive, effective, and resilient financial infrastructure.

This paper explores how innovative technologies like blockchain and AI can serve as catalysts for strategic government, enabling transformative changes and accelerating positive outcomes—in short, doing more with less.

Tokenization is the process of representing a real world asset on a blockchain. This nascent technology is already unlocking significant risk reduction, transparency, and economic benefits for financial systems. Regulators can help unlock these benefits by recognizing that the choice of ledger technology alone should not drive regulation, and that tokenized assets are simply the same assets, on a blockchain.

Crypto is the future of money. This research report is a year-over-year look at corporate adoption of onchain initiatives among the largest US corporations via an analysis of onchain activity at Fortune 100 companies and a survey of Fortune 500 decision makers.

Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePINs) have the potential to provide greater access to services like internet connectivity, energy and transportation. Leveraging blockchain and digital assets, DePINs offer a new model for developing physical infrastructure that can be more accessible, affordable, and secure.

As cities and states grapple with the challenges of the 21st century, digital assets and blockchain offer innovative solutions. From streamlining benefits programs to simplifying title transfers and tax collection, these technologies can transform the way local governments work every day.

New research details how apps for legacy financial institutions, and even payment apps based on these institutions, keep the system unfairly expensive, hard to access, and mired in delays. Americans want updates to the current system that make it cheaper, faster, and easier to access, and see the potential in crypto as part of the solution.

Small businesses are leveraging the revolutionary potential of digital asset and blockchain technologies to address their distinct challenges. A new primer by the Coinbase Institute explores how these technologies can make everyday business processes more accessible, automated, and secure.

Crypto is global, decentralized, and open. These features give it tremendous potential to improve transparency, efficiency, and privacy across countless industries and services.

The digital revolution created access to vast amounts of data. AI holds promise to make efficient use of this information, while blockchain can protect against some of the key risks and concerns around privacy, interoperability, standardization, and protection.

This report uses survey data to examine how young Americans experience the current financial system, where they find shortcomings, how they’re creating economic opportunity for themselves, and how they see cryptocurrency as a tool to update the system to be more inclusive, faster, and empowering.

Decentralized Finance, or “DeFi,” offers an innovative way of conducting finance peer to peer. But these innovations make it difficult to tax DeFi transactions. The use of an optional “tax identity” attestation token that facilitates collection of a transaction tax is one potential solution.

Decentralized social media offers a new model of social networking that embraces the web3 vision of a user-owned internet. By leveraging crypto and blockchain technology, these networks have the potential to increase privacy, freedom of expression, and user autonomy on-chain.

This research covers the adoption of crypto, blockchain, and web3 initiatives among the largest US corporations via an analysis of blockchain activity among Fortune 100 companies and a survey of Fortune 500 executives.

Decentralized apps offer financial services, games, art, and more, but most are built on blockchains, use open-source code, and are controlled by smart contracts—not big tech. By empowering and rewarding users, dapps can spur innovation in web3.

In order to track adoption and awareness of Web3 globally, the Coinbase Institute surveyed more than 32,000 people with internet access from 16 countries. This report analyzes the results and discusses crypto familiarity across the surveyed regions.

With countries around the world embracing crypto and blockchain technology, the U.S. stands at a critical juncture. In this white paper, the Coinbase Institute explores how the U.S. commitment to fostering technological innovation has powered its global leadership over the past century, and why it is crucial that the U.S. take the same approach with crypto.

Decentralized identity can bring more privacy, control, and security to online identities. This primer discusses the tangible benefits it can offer to individuals and institutions alike.

The Coinbase Institute explores the use of digital asset technology to track and combat illicit finance, and advocates for increased public-private collaboration to facilitate its use.

Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad explains how strong crypto policy can help nations ensure a strong currency, tech sector, and prevent illicit finance.

Crypto privacy protocols and tools have become an essential part of the ecosystem. The Coinbase Institute breaks down what Tornado Cash is and is not – and explains why regulators, policymakers and law enforcement should take a measured approach.

Are Decentralized Autonomous Organizations really decentralized? And should they be?

An overview of the opportunities created by Web3 in Australia, in collaboration with RMIT.

Crypto does not yet pose a systemic risk, but challenges and benefits must be carefully considered by policymakers. This report evaluates systemic risk in crypto, and explores how crypto can mitigate some of the risks present in traditional finance today.

This white paper explains what stablecoins are and how stablecoin arrangements work.

This primer explains how crypto transfers can disrupt traditional remittance methods.

This research publication covers momentum, a widespread asset pricing concept.

This primer assesses the current state of crypto and the climate.

This report explores a comparative analysis of market movements in the cryptoeconomy and traditional finance, and introduces a framework for systematically and objectively examining crypto's risk.

Coinbase recommends the use of identity tokens and some form of transaction tax to overcome current challenges in applying tax to DeFi transactions.

Coinbase advocates for the creation of identity tokens and enhanced smart contracts to enable effective collection and remittance of taxes for NFT transactions on decentralized platforms.

Coinbase calls for a digital asset task force consisting of Treasury, IRS, and external industry experts to clarify the application of U.S. tax law to cryptocurrencies.

Our proposal for how the United States should regulate digital assets.

This proposal introduces our new regulatory framework, the Digital Asset Policy Proposal: Safeguarding America’s Financial Leadership (dApp).