Why the World Needs Bitcoin and Crypto: Financial Services are a Basic Human Right

Coinbase's CEO and co-founder Brian Armstrong has a vision for how Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will profoundly impact society.

Beneath the price and all the hype, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong thinks that there is a greater purpose to cryptocurrency.

According to Armstrong, in the United States and other first-world countries, people take financial services for granted.

"That's a luxury that many people in the world don't have at all," said Armstrong.

According to Armstrong, there are roughly 1.8 billion people who have a cell phone but don't have access to basic financial services.

After over a decade of maturation, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can allow anyone with a smartphone and internet connectivity to engage in commerce.

"Today, only about 40 million people in the world have cryptocurrency, but these are the early days. I believe in 5 years, a billion people in the world will have cryptocurrency and it will shift from this investment phase to the utility phase. Meaning people actually using cryptocurrency to buy goods and services and transact in the economy."

"Cryptocurrency is going to be a great democratizing force in the world because it's going to level the playing field."

Armstrong has an incentive for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to succeed-because if they do, Coinbase could potentially become one of the world's largest and most profitable corporations.

Interests aside, it's hard to disagree that "Access to financial services is a basic human right." Once the tulips, mania, and hype are peeled away, something to consider is that cryptocurrency could bring millions into the global economy.