How crypto helps Americans keep their share of the pie

The financial system that Americans have trusted with their hard-earned money for 100 years costs them too much and takes too long. Nearly nine in 10 think the system needs updating, and transaction fees and delays are their top reasons why. Middlemen take bite after bite, their business hours, geographic borders and outdated technology slow down transactions – all at odds with what we know is doable in the digital era. 

Together, the fees and time add up to a third cost: the opportunity cost of what people and merchants could be doing, building, creating (or eating, as new ads from Coinbase put it) if more of their money were there for them, right when they need it.

Crypto is cheaper to use and faster to move. In 2022, Americans could have saved at least $74 billion in transaction fees by using crypto, averaging $600 per household. Fees and delays could be less of a pain point for retailers, who lose about 2% on every credit card transaction – making transaction fees their second biggest cost after labor – and can wait as long as three days for payment for purchases.

In a hat tip to the first-ever payment in bitcoin, Coinbase’s new ad campaign highlights how crypto can update the financial system by showing how absurd it would be if pizza delivery worked like the financial system does today. 

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If Pizza Worked Like Money | Crypto Moves Money Forward (Free, fast global transfers with USDC)

Crypto is the future of money. Its days as just an asset class are behind us – increasing use of crypto is inspiring innovations that are driving updates to the financial system itself. The progress is clear:

• An average of 26 transactions are happening every second on Base, the Coinbase-incubated, decentralized, open L2 – an increase of about 400%¹. Daily Base transactions also have increased by about 400%, averaging 2.28 million per day. 

• Coinbase services enable people to instantly send and pay with USDC, without fees, across the globe.

• Around the world, more than 100,000 merchants and payment rails themselves take payment in crypto, including PayPal and Visa.

• In 2022, global onchain stablecoin transfers amounted to $9 trillion, more than Mastercard, American Express and Discover combined. 

• More than half (52%) of the Fortune 100 have pursued crypto, blockchain or web3 initiatives since the start of 2020, and more than eight in 10 crypto-aware Fortune 500 executives say their companies either have initiatives or are planning them. 

In addition to our instant, fee-free transaction services in USDC, Coinbase also partners with forward-thinking financial institutions and credit card companies to use blockchain technology to drive down fees and cut settlement times for their customers. 

Coinbase’s national TV ad campaign will start airing April 17 in NBA media and run through the NBA Finals in June.

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Money at the Speed of Pizza | Crypto Moves Money Forward (Free, fast global transfers with USDC)

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This Commercial Isn’t About Pizza | Crypto Moves Money Forward (Free global transfers with USDC)

¹Since a mid-March Ethereum update and as of April 18th 2024.