[Comparative Interview] Coinbase Strategy Director: Institutional interest has never stopped; DeFi and stablecoins are bound to explode

Hosted by BitpushCryptoAI Summit 2025In, we had an exclusive interviewCoinbaseJohn D'Agostino, Director of Institutional Strategy. As an important participant in the institutionalization process of crypto, John shared his insights on Bitcoin's evolving role, institutional crypto adoption, decentralized finance, and stablecoin industries.

Guest profile

John D'Agostino is the Director of Institutional Strategy at Coinbase. He is a board member of several major hedge and venture capital funds, listed companies, and the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA).

In 2019, John co-founded the AIMA Digital Assets Working Group. In 2021, he was appointed Chairman of the British Royal Asset Management Working Group by the British Consulate in New York. In 2022, John was appointed as a financial innovation researcher for the AIF Global Pensions Network, and in 2024, John was appointed as a researcher at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).

As the former director of strategy at the New York Mercantile Exchange, John led the work of partnering with the Dubai government to establish the first Middle Eastern energy derivatives exchange, which made him the protagonist of two New York Times bestsellers (“Rigged” and “Start Up Of You”).

“Bitcoin has been decoupled from broader tech stocks”

On the day before the summit, BTC once again returned to $100,000 after a lapse of several months, triggering discussions among investors about the return of the “bull market.”

When asked about his opinion on market sentiment, John D'Agostino said, “BTC previously reached $100,000, and these numbers are really psychologically very important. They can make the public pay more attention to such assets. I remember the scene when crude oil broke through $100 per barrel for the first time. It was a major moment. However, we shouldn't put too much emphasis on a specific number; I think more importantly, while we are seeing this kind of price trend, Bitcoin has decoupled from a wider range of technology stocks. That's more fun for me.”

John told Bitpush: “Assuming Bitcoin is only $90,000 instead of 100,000 today, but it has been decoupled in this way in April and early May, I would still be happy as an investor — if I bought it to improve my portfolio's Sharpe ratio and increase the capture rate (we call it the Sortino ratio).Whether in terms of its economic relationship with other assets or in terms of absolute performance, Bitcoin is performing the way people expect it to.”

Institutional giant whales: a “quiet accumulation” that continued for ten years

Since spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved, more and more institutional investors have begun to deploy Bitcoin. As of May 15, the total inflow volume of US spot Bitcoin ETFs reached US$343.47 million, continuing the five consecutive weeks of inflows since mid-April.

John D'Agostino told Bitpush: “Even during the period when Bitcoin was falling and people didn't pay much attention to Bitcoin, we never stopped seeing an increase in institutional interest. When we talk about institutions, many people refer to hedge funds and asset management companies. The duty of these entities is to find new ways to make money and new sources of alpha revenue. They have a responsibility to look out for new asset classes that have the potential to generate alpha returns.So for ten years, their interest has been growing quietly and has never stopped.Essentially, this growth has been slow and steady.”

John explained, “They really like this asset that doesn't correlate well with other asset classes; they love the volatility — it might scare off some retail investors, but institutions love this kind of volatility.. They like assets that provide protection when falling, are volatile enough for them to trade, and can also profit when a wide range of assets rise. So Bitcoin has all of these characteristics.”

“Now, because institutions tend to trade more, more frequently, and have more reporting requirements than ordinary retail users... they need an institutionalized market, a compliant market. We now have that kind of market. Coinbase has been operating in a compliant manner for ten years. Recently, however, in the US, the way the government and regulators treat such assets has changed, making institutions more confident to trade on compliant platforms without worrying about causing any regulatory trouble in the US. This is a relatively recent change. So I think it's only natural that we're seeing more institutional interest, but that interest has never stopped.”

Governments and sovereign wealth funds are about to join the wave

Compared to previous reports, New Hampshire becameThe first US state to pass a “strategic bitcoin reserve” billJohn also mentioned the growing participation of government agencies. “Many states, countries, and sovereign wealth funds are already investing, even if not publicly announced,” he said.

He told Bitpush: “Frankly speaking, I think the only thing blocking this process is the change of leadership. As new leaders are elected — those who are more open, more willing to learn about technology, and more willing to learn about this innovation... as long as they take the time to listen to voters and learn about this technology, it's quite clear where we are headed in the future.You'll see more and more entities with state, national, and government backgrounds (such as sovereign wealth funds) not only research it, buy it, but are willing to acknowledge that they actually hold such assets. It's just a matter of time.”

The “perfect partner” for DeFi and stablecoins

John is very optimistic about the development of DeFi and stablecoins, and believes that the rapid expansion of DEFI is inseparable from the support of stablecoins.

He said, “I think centralized exchanges (CEX) and decentralized exchanges (DEX) will continue to increase in the future, but there is no doubt that now is a good time for decentralized finance (DeFi), and an exciting time for stablecoins.The two complement each other, and DeFi requires a stable, scalable transaction layer — and stablecoins perfectly meet this need. Stablecoins are like lubricants for DeFi applications, enabling applications ranging from derivatives to cross-border payments to rapidly expand.”

John believes that in the next 1-3 years, stablecoin-based DeFi applications — particularly in the field of cross-border payments and derivatives — will grow exponentially. He told Bitpush: “Although the forecast for 'trillions of dollars in stablecoin trading volume' may be aggressive,But there is no doubt that this market will be much larger than it is today.”

“Don't worry about short-term prices, Bitcoin's effect on optimizing portfolios is still significant”

When asked about his views on the future trend of Bitcoin, John said that the core function of an exchange is not to predict the market, but to provide a reliable price discovery mechanism. He mentioned that while the psychological impact of the integer threshold (such as 90,000 or 100,000 US dollars) does exist, what is more noteworthy is the change in the correlation between Bitcoin and traditional assets (especially technology stocks). “If Bitcoin remains low in correlation, even if the price stops at a certain point, it will still have a significant effect on optimizing the portfolio.”

John's sharing made investors more convinced: the crypto market is shifting from being dominated by retail investors to institutionalization. As compliance frameworks become more and more perfect, when sovereign funds are quietly laid out, and as DeFi infrastructure continues to evolve, we may be at the tipping point of a new round of qualitative changes in the industry.

Author: BitPushNews Mary Liu

This article is an exclusive Bitpush interview. Reprinting requires permission

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