Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has argued that Bitcoin constitutes an asset as a “check and balance” that could ultimately strengthen the U.S. dollar by acting as a market-based constraint on fiscal and monetary excesses, helping the U.S. maintain the credibility of its reserve currency.
In a Dec. 28 post on X accompanied by a short audio recording, Armstrong rejected the idea that Bitcoin is inherently a threat to the dollar. “Bitcoin is good for the US dollar,” he said. “Bitcoin creates competition in a healthy way for the dollar and helps provide checks and balances against high inflation and deficit spending.”
Bitcoin is favorable for the US dollar.
It creates competition in a way that is healthy for the dollar and helps provide checks and balances against high inflation and budget deficits. pic.twitter.com/iHjQCJVqCb
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) December 28, 2025
Bitcoin acts as a check on dollar inflation
Armstrong’s central argument is that the existence of reliable alternative stores of value increases the political and economic costs of worsening inflation and debt trends. He said in the recording that if the U.S. turns to “excessive deficit spending and inflation,” it could lead to “capital fleeing to Bitcoin in times of uncertainty,” creating external pressure on policymakers and, in turn, stronger incentives to maintain currency stability.
He situated this argument within a broader critique of budgeting incentives in democratic systems. “Democracies around the world, including the United States, are trying to figure out how to fix their budget deficits,” he said, adding that “the incentives just aren’t aligned to actually balance the budget.” The implication, as Armstrong noted, is not that Bitcoin directly repairs these incentives, but that by providing an exit valve when their credibility deteriorates, the cost of ignoring them becomes even higher.
Armstrong also linked reserve currency status to the relationship between inflation and real growth. “If the economy is growing 2-3%, you might be okay with 2-3% inflation,” he said. But Armstrong warned that the US could “eventually lose its reserve currency status” if “inflation outpaces economic growth”, which he described as a “major blow” to the country.
He added a geopolitical layer, arguing that reserve currency privileges are not static. “China and other superpowers are coming in to compete over time,” Armstrong said, positioning financial reliability as the axis of long-term strategic competition.
The conclusion he offered reconfigured Bitcoin’s role, making it less of an adversary to the dollar and more of a disciplining force that could lengthen the runway for U.S. financial leadership. “So I actually think, in a weird way, Bitcoin is helping to extend the American experiment,” he said.
Armstrong’s comments come amid growing debate within cryptocurrencies over whether Bitcoin’s maturation will make it a parallel system or a pressure mechanism within an existing system. If his argument resonates, it could strengthen the new theory among institutional investors and policy-adjacent crypto advocates. The idea is that Bitcoin’s competitive presence could be compatible with the dollar’s dominance rather than eroding it, as long as it continues to pose a cost when confidence begins to decline.
At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $87,604.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart on TradingView.com
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