Coinbase CEO calls on the U.S. to re-examine the accredited investor laws, suggesting a capability assessment to replace the wealth threshold

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted on the X platform that the U.S. should reconsider the accredited investor laws, as the time for company privatization is getting longer. Only accredited investors (i.e., the wealthy) can participate in early investments, while ordinary retail investors can only enter after an IPO, by which time most of the upside potential has already been realized. The original intention of these rules was to protect ordinary investors from fraud, but in reality, they often make it harder for less affluent individuals to build wealth. Armstrong proposed two possible reform paths: one is to replace the existing rules with ability-based standards, such as qualifying as an accredited investor through a financial literacy test; the other is to completely eliminate the rule, allowing adults to assess risks on their own while maintaining information disclosure requirements and fraud enforcement measures.