Coinbase CPO likens NYT crypto criticism to early doubts on internet, iPhone

Faryar Shirzad, Coinbase's Chief Policy Officer (CPO), has pushed back against an opinion piece in The New York Times that argued cryptocurrency is useless, drawing parallels to the early criticism faced by the internet and the iPhone. In a post on X, Shirzad argued that a technology should not be dismissed as useless simply because its initial applications seem frivolous to bureaucrats and economists. He stated that cryptocurrency is now evolving beyond a monetary concept to build tangible infrastructure. As evidence, he pointed to Visa's use of USDC for interbank settlements and BlackRock's tokenization of Treasury bonds on public chains like Ethereum through its BUIDL fund. Shirzad also noted that AI agents are performing autonomous transactions and that tokenized capital markets are creating investment opportunities for the financially underserved. He stressed that the important question is not whether crypto has utility, but whether individuals are paying close enough attention to notice its real-world applications.