Investor and Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary says he would fire Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and find someone who is willing to make a deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Brian Armstrong, cofounder and CEO of Coinbase, speaks onstage during 'Tales from the Crypto: What the Currency of the Future Means for You' at Vanity Fair's 6th Annual New Establishment Summit at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on Oc (Getty Images)
On Tuesday, the SEC announced that it was suing the cryptocurrency exchange for operating as an unregistered broker. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Wednesday that she supports regulatory oversight of cryptocurrency to protect consumers and investors.
O’Leary said he would take Armstrong "behind the barn" and get a new CEO at Coinbase. "Find a new CEO that will go to SEC Chairperson Gary Gensler and say, "You win. Let’s regulate this and call it a security," he added. "The move would provide Coinbase with a trillion dollars’ worth of assets for an allocation of just 3%. It is sovereign wealth."
A representation of the cryptocurrency is seen in front of Coinbase logo in this illustration taken, March 4, 2022. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo / Reuters Photos)
In the SEC complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, the regulator said that Coinbase has pocketed billions of dollars by collecting transaction fees from investors since at least 2019, without the disclosures and protections of registration, exposing its customers to risk.
"Coinbase has lost 70% of its market cap since the Initial Public Offering (IPO)," O’Leary said.
Multi-millionaire Kevin O'Leary joined 'Kudlow' to discuss his outlook on the U.S. stock markets, and economy. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
"The cryptocurrency industry has been stymied for three years and will never get capital appreciation until an institution can invest," he went on. "After speaking with Sovereign Wealth and other institutions in the last 48 hours, they say this asset class is radioactive waste. We are not going to touch this."
Coinbase has not responded to inquiries from FOX Business.