Fed's Powell May Have Met With Coinbase CEO in May

Brian Armstrong is listed on the central bank's calendar, public records show.

AccessTimeIconJul 2, 2021 at 6:53 p.m. UTC
Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 1:20 p.m. UTC
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U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell was scheduled to meet with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong on May 11, according to an entry on the central bank's calendar.

  • It was unknown what the subject of the planned half hour meeting was or that it even took place.
  • Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan was also to have been in attendance.
  • Per the calendar, Powell was scheduled to meet in person the following day and virtually the day after that with Christopher Giancarlo, the former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, about the Digital Dollar Project that Giancarlo heads.
  • Armstrong tweeted a lengthy thread on May 14 about his adventures in D.C.
  • "Goal was to establish relationships and help answer questions about crypto," he tweeted at the time.
  • Although there's no mention of meeting with Powell, Armstrong's thread did include a photo with Ryan.
  • When reached by CoinDesk, a Coinbase spokesperson said the company had nothing to add beyond Armstrong's tweets at the time.

Update (July 2, 20:55 UTC): Adds comment from a Coinbase spokesperson.

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