According to Woofun AI, Coinbase (COIN.US) has officially appointed Anthony Armstrong as a board member. This former financial director who has worked for Elon Musk's xAI and X companies will help the crypto giant to build deeper liquidity and settlement barriers in a context where the focus of competition shifts from simple trading volume to round-the-clock market technical control.
On September 2, Coinbase (COIN.US) publicly disclosed Armstrong's appointment details. According to its filing with the SEC, the appointment officially took effect on September 1. Armstrong immediately joined the Audit and Compliance Committee, expanding the size of the Coinbase (COIN.US) board from 9 to 10 members. The document specifically clarifies that Anthony Armstrong is not related to Coinbase (COIN.US) co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong. Coinbase (COIN.US) emphasizes that Armstrong has a successful experience in building scalable and waste-free systems, which is highly compatible with the company's current strategy of focusing on efficient execution.
Looking back at his career, Armstrong worked at Morgan Stanley (MS.US) for nearly ten years, eventually being promoted to Vice Chairman of Investment Banking and leading the global technology M&A business. Since then, he transitioned to the government efficiency department as a senior advisor, then became the financial director of xAI, X.AI Corp, and X Corp. As early as October 2025, Armstrong advised on Musk's $44 billion acquisition of Twitter and established a close working relationship with Musk. According to reports, Musk later merged X with xAI, and the deal was worth around $113 billion.
This background makes Armstrong's appointment far beyond general governance and personnel adjustments. The future of Coinbase (COIN.US) may depend on mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, and integration of securities, crypto markets, and blockchain settlements, where Armstrong's trading background is particularly valuable.
This high-level change comes at a time when the financial performance of Coinbase (COIN.US) is weak and the stock price is falling sharply. COIN closed at $174.96 on September 2, down more than 40% from the same period last year. Coinbase (COIN.US)'s second-quarter earnings report shows that the company's revenue was 1.2 billion US dollars, but losses reached 359.5 million US dollars.
Despite subscription and service revenue of $555.1 million, and the company says 88% of total revenue comes from businesses other than Bitcoin spot trading, Quartz notes that the company has failed to meet Wall Street expectations for three consecutive quarters. Brian Armstrong summed up the new strategy when the earnings report was released: 'Coinbase (COIN.US) is no longer just a game about betting on the price of Bitcoin. ' Coinbase's (COIN.US) 'All Asset Exchange' strategy is gradually blurring the line between crypto exchanges and broader multi-asset financial platforms. The company has launched US stock and ETF trading, forecasting markets, and planned tokenized assets, pre-IPO perpetual contracts, unified liquidity, and an SEC-registered AI investment advisor. The opportunity is already reflected in the data: Woofun AI collated data showing that in May 2026, TradFi/RWA's perpetual trading volume reached $347.17 billion, compared to only $230 million in early 2025.
However, regulation and market structure may be as important as product breadth. The World Federation of Exchanges has warned that a fragmented tokenized stock market could weaken liquidity and price discovery.
Traditional exchanges are also entering the same field, increasing competition. The London Stock Exchange Group is partnering with Kraken's parent company Payward to launch tokenized UK stocks and plans to launch xStocks on its 24-hour trading platform LSE 24 in 2027, subject to regulatory approval. This makes the strategic challenge of Coinbase (COIN.US) even more clear: winning the 24/7 market may depend more on having a regulated track that allows capital to flow continuously between assets rather than simply listing more assets. With the deep integration of traditional financial infrastructure and cryptographic technology, whether Coinbase (COIN.US) can use Armstrong's cross-border experience to find a balance between regulatory compliance and technological innovation will be a key variable in whether it can break away from being dependent on a single cryptocurrency cycle and achieve sustainable growth.