Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Confronts France’s Central Bank Chief on Bitcoin at Davos

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong thrust Bitcoin into the heart of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) policy debate on Wednesday.

His comments come as markets anticipate US President Donald Trump’s appearance at the event in Davos, given his history of unscripted remarks on trade, tariffs, and geopolitics.

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Bitcoin’s Independence Collides With Central Banking at Davos

The Coinbase executive directly challenged Banque de France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau over monetary independence.

“I trust more independent central banks with a democratic mandate than private issuers of Bitcoin,” Gareth Jenkinson reported, citing Villeroy de Galhau during a Davos discussion.

This remark echoes a long-standing view among central bankers that sovereign institutions are inherently more legitimate than decentralized alternatives.

Armstrong pushed back, reframing the debate in terms of control and issuance rather than political mandate.

“Bitcoin is a decentralized protocol. There’s actually no issuer of it. So, in the sense that central banks have independence, Bitcoin is even more independent. No country, company, or individual controls it in the world,” Armstrong articulated.

The exchange marked one of the rare moments at the WEF where Bitcoin itself, not merely blockchain technology or tokenized finance, was debated head-on.

For years, WEF panels have largely focused on permissioned ledgers, institutional adoption, and central bank digital currencies. They often sidestep Bitcoin’s challenge to monetary sovereignty altogether.

That dynamic began to shift at WEF 2026, in part due to persistent questioning from journalists on the ground.

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Journalists pressed Armstrong during the “Crypto at a Crossroads” session, asking whether the US would follow through on discussions around establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

Armstrong’s response framed Bitcoin less as a speculative asset and more as a neutral, global monetary network, one that governments are increasingly forced to acknowledge rather than dismiss.

From Davos: Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong makes the case for Bitcoin at Davos today

“People think about our current financial system as the only way to do it, but the current financial system was only in 1971 when Nixon went off the gold standard, we are also seeing the birth of a… pic.twitter.com/j4Hla6x3OG

— BeInCrypto (@beincrypto) January 21, 2026

Still, the highlight could be President Trump’s expected remarks given his history of unscripted remarks on trade, tariffs, and geopolitics.

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Banks Push Back as Bitcoin Enters the Strategic and Macro Debate

Outside Davos, Armstrong continued to sharpen his critique of the TradFi system. In a separate interview with CNBC, he accused the US banking lobby of attempting to stifle competition through regulatory pressure, particularly around stablecoin legislation.

Here’s a quick summary of what happened last week with the CLARITY Act.

Now we’re all working together to find a win-win scenario for everyone, especially the American people. pic.twitter.com/Wcry97B3qf

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 21, 2026

Referencing the stalled CLARITY Act, Armstrong argued that banks were pushing to block crypto platforms from offering yields, not because of systemic risk, but because of competitive threat.

“Their lobbying groups and their trade arms are coming in and trying to ban the competition,” Armstrong said, adding that crypto firms should be allowed to compete on a level regulatory playing field rather than being walled off by legacy incumbents.

The timing of these debates coincides with growing macroeconomic unease about the global financial system.

Hedge fund veteran Ray Dalio, also speaking to CNBC during the Davos week, warned that the current monetary order is under strain.

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“The monetary order is breaking down,” Dalio said, pointing to rising debt levels and shifting reserve strategies among central banks and sovereign wealth funds.

He noted that gold’s renewed prominence reflects deepening concerns about the stability of fiat currency. These concerns are increasingly extending to digital alternatives such as Bitcoin.

Policy signals from Washington suggest that Bitcoin is no longer entirely outside the state’s strategic calculus.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed in 2025 that any Bitcoin seized through law enforcement actions would be added to America’s strategic reserve.

While not an outright endorsement, the move signals a quiet acknowledgment of Bitcoin’s durability as a monetary asset.

Taken together, the Davos exchanges reflect a subtle but meaningful shift. Bitcoin is no longer just an external disruptor critiqued from afar.

It is increasingly being debated, sometimes uncomfortably, inside the very institutions that once sought to ignore it.

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Author: Lockridge Okoth

BeInCrypto