Coinbase CEO Says Tokenized Assets Could Do For Finance What the iPhone Did For Tech: ‘An Entirely New Wave of Companies’

Snigdha Gairola

Mon, August 31, 2026 at 8:31 PM GMT+3 4 min read

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Coinbase Global Inc. CEO Brian Armstrong said tokenized assets on blockchains could transform financial markets in much the same way the iPhone created a platform for companies such as Uber Technologies Inc., TikTok and Coinbase.

Armstrong Predicts New Blockchain Finance Companies

On Saturday, Armstrong made the comments on X, comparing the potential impact of blockchain with the iPhone's role in creating new businesses.

"Apple didn't predict Uber, TikTok, or Coinbase," Armstrong said.

He added, "But the iPhone enabled an entirely new wave of companies."

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He argued that tokenized assets could have a similar effect on financial markets.

"We already know the immediate benefits (global access, better utility, 24/7 trading), but a new set of finance companies we can't imagine will be built on top," Armstrong said.

Tokenized assets are digital tokens created on a blockchain that represent ownership or rights to real-world physical or financial assets.

Apple didn't predict Uber, TikTok, or Coinbase. But the iPhone enabled an entirely new wave of companies.
Tokenized assets on blockchains will be similar. We already know the immediate benefits (global access, better utility, 24/7 trading), but a new set of finance companies we…

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) August 29, 2026

Blockchain Push Reshapes Global Finance

Japan's financial regulators and major financial institutions planned to study blockchain infrastructure for real-time settlement of stocks and bonds, targeting a strategy by early 2027 and possible operation in the early 2030s.

The system could tokenize bank deposits held at the Bank of Japan into digital currency for institutional blockchain settlement, while banks and securities firms were already testing tokenized assets.

The move reflected Japan's broader shift toward digital finance and came after cryptocurrencies were reclassified as financial assets alongside stocks and other instruments.

Last year, Pyth Data Association Director Marc Tillement said blockchain could transform global financial markets over the next five to 10 years by reducing fragmentation and combining pricing, trading and settlement on a single layer.

He pointed to Ethereum and Solana as examples, while noting challenges around speed, scalability, data storage and decentralization.

Photo Courtesy: Thrive Studios ID on Shutterstock.com

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