Binance’s Changpeng “CZ” Zhao may have grabbed headlines at the World Economic Forum with his prediction of a Bitcoin “supercycle” in 2026, but Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong brought a different set of takeaways from Davos—focused squarely on accelerating global crypto adoption and the infrastructure needed to get there. In a January 24 post on X, Armstrong summarized themes he heard across the forum after a week of one-on-one meetings. Top of the list: tokenization. Armstrong said tokenization is expanding into “every asset class” and that 2026 should bring significant progress, driven in part by deeper engagement from Fortune 500 leaders. Regulation was another major thread. Armstrong flagged the CLARITY Act and broader crypto policy discussions as central to U.S. ambitions to become the world’s crypto hub. He said many bank CEOs at WEF are now pro-crypto—quoting one top-10 global bank chief who told him, “crypto is their number one priority, and they view it as existential.” Armstrong also singled out the current U.S. administration as the most crypto-forward government today, praising recent moves to clarify market structure. He argued that clearer rules are essential for global competitiveness and will ultimately put money back into people’s pockets. A lighter note from Armstrong: ESG and DEI debates were largely absent from conversations at Davos. He described the week as unusually focused on “real, global progress,” and credited Larry Fink—BlackRock’s CEO and new WEF co-chair—for helping steer that agenda. On technology, Armstrong said crypto and AI dominated discussions and are increasingly intertwined. He predicted that autonomous AI agents will gravitate toward stablecoins for payments, since those agents can’t be KYC’d like human users—a claim framed as a likely future trend rather than settled fact. One concrete announcement Armstrong highlighted: a partnership between Coinbase, Circle, and Bermuda to build a fully on-chain economy—an initiative unveiled at WEF Davos 2026 that Armstrong called a potential case study for other nations. Market context: the global crypto market cap stands at about $3.086 trillion, with Bitcoin still the largest cryptocurrency. Armstrong’s comments at Davos underline how business, policy and tech leaders are converging on tokenization, clearer regulation, and the practical integration of crypto with emerging AI-driven use cases—sets of developments that could shape the industry’s next phase in 2026. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

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