The U.S.’s most prominent crypto exchange plans to hire about 1,000 more employees in 2025, Brian Armstrong, the cofounder and CEO of Coinbase, said Friday in a video posted to X.
“President Trump has breathed life back into the crypto industry,” said Armstrong, who was standing in front of the White House’s West Wing. “Coinbase is planning to hire about 1,000 people here in the U.S. this year as a direct result of his actions already in the first 60 days or so.”
The CEO didn’t provide additional details about the crypto exchange’s hiring plans in his brief social media address. “We don’t have anything to add beyond Brian’s comments on Friday,” said a Coinbase spokesperson.
Armstrong made his hiring promise directly after he attended the Trump administration’s inaugural Crypto Summit, or a Friday gathering of the crypto industry’s top executives in the White House. Other attendees included Michael Saylor, the founder and chairman of the Bitcoin treasury company Strategy; and Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, founders of the crypto exchange Gemini.
The summit was closed-door, but Trump and his attendees did make a brief public appearance on Friday afternoon, when he called for Congress to pass crypto legislation before August. “I promised to make America the Bitcoin superpower of the world and the crypto capital of the planet, and we’re taking historic action to deliver on that promise,” Trump said.
The gathering followed Trump’s signing of an executive order he had long promised to the crypto industry. On Thursday evening, David Sacks, Trump’s AI and crypto czar, announced that the president had authorized the creation of a strategic Bitcoin reserve and a digital asset stockpile. The Bitcoin reserve will include cryptocurrency the federal government has seized through criminal and civil forfeiture. The executive order also said that the U.S. Treasury and Commerce Departments will explore “budget-neutral” strategies to acquire more Bitcoin.
The digital asset stockpile will include cryptocurrencies the U.S. government has seized through forfeitures, but the executive order did not say that the federal government would explore additional purchases of cryptocurrency.
Crypto industry executives were prominent donors to Trump’s election campaign. Jesse Powell, cofounder and chairman of crypto exchange Kraken, donated $1 million to Trump after the then Republican presidential candidate spoke at Bitcoin 2024 in July, one of the world’s largest crypto conferences. The Winklevoss brothers were also prominent Trump donors during the 2024 election campaign.
Since Trump’s election, the Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped a slew of lawsuits against crypto companies, including Kraken, Gemini, and Coinbase.
Update, March 7, 2025: Added that a Coinbase spokesperson declined to comment.
