Coinbase Institute

Tokenization is the process of representing a real world asset on a blockchain. This nascent technology is already unlocking significant risk reduction, transparency, and economic benefits for financial systems. Regulators can help unlock these benefits by recognizing that the choice of ledger technology alone should not drive regulation, and that tokenized assets are simply the same assets, on a blockchain.

Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePINs) have the potential to provide greater access to services like internet connectivity, energy and transportation. Leveraging blockchain and digital assets, DePINs offer a new model for developing physical infrastructure that can be more accessible, affordable, and secure.

As cities and states grapple with the challenges of the 21st century, digital assets and blockchain offer innovative solutions. From streamlining benefits programs to simplifying title transfers and tax collection, these technologies can transform the way local governments work every day.

Small businesses are leveraging the revolutionary potential of digital asset and blockchain technologies to address their distinct challenges. A new primer by the Coinbase Institute explores how these technologies can make everyday business processes more accessible, automated, and secure.

Crypto is global, decentralized, and open. These features give it tremendous potential to improve transparency, efficiency, and privacy across countless industries and services.

The digital revolution created access to vast amounts of data. AI holds promise to make efficient use of this information, while blockchain can protect against some of the key risks and concerns around privacy, interoperability, standardization, and protection.

Decentralized Finance, or “DeFi,” offers an innovative way of conducting finance peer to peer. But these innovations make it difficult to tax DeFi transactions. The use of an optional “tax identity” attestation token that facilitates collection of a transaction tax is one potential solution.

Decentralized social media offers a new model of social networking that embraces the web3 vision of a user-owned internet. By leveraging crypto and blockchain technology, these networks have the potential to increase privacy, freedom of expression, and user autonomy on-chain.

Decentralized apps offer financial services, games, art, and more, but most are built on blockchains, use open-source code, and are controlled by smart contracts—not big tech. By empowering and rewarding users, dapps can spur innovation in web3.

With countries around the world embracing crypto and blockchain technology, the U.S. stands at a critical juncture. In this white paper, the Coinbase Institute explores how the U.S. commitment to fostering technological innovation has powered its global leadership over the past century, and why it is crucial that the U.S. take the same approach with crypto.

Decentralized identity can bring more privacy, control, and security to online identities. This primer discusses the tangible benefits it can offer to individuals and institutions alike.

The Coinbase Institute explores the use of digital asset technology to track and combat illicit finance, and advocates for increased public-private collaboration to facilitate its use.

Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad explains why adopting a strong policy toward crypto and Web3 is an essential component of every country's national security strategy.

Crypto privacy protocols and tools have become an essential part of the ecosystem. The Coinbase Institute breaks down what Tornado Cash is and is not – and explains why regulators, policymakers and law enforcement should take a measured approach.

This white paper explains what stablecoins are and how stablecoin arrangements work.

This primer explains how crypto transfers can disrupt traditional remittance methods.

This primer assesses the current state of crypto and the climate.

Coinbase recommends the use of identity tokens and some form of transaction tax to overcome current challenges in applying tax to DeFi transactions.

Coinbase advocates for the creation of identity tokens and enhanced smart contracts to enable effective collection and remittance of taxes for NFT transactions on decentralized platforms.

Coinbase calls for a digital asset task force consisting of Treasury, IRS, and external industry experts to clarify the application of U.S. tax law to cryptocurrencies.

Our proposal for how the United States should regulate digital assets.