Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong: regulation kills innovation, nuclear is the cautionary tale
kevinnbass · x · 2026-10-01
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong argues one of the biggest killers of innovation is being blinded by hypothetical downsides — raising risks is easy; weighing the harm of over-restriction is hard.
His cautionary tale: the NRC's de facto ban on nuclear. Had the US kept building nuclear plants, we'd have a modern grid and far higher growth today.
He breaks down how well-intentioned systems fail:
- Asymmetric error costs: approving a bad reactor/drug ends careers; blocking a good one is invisible.
- Process as veto: hourly fees, multi-step licenses, EPA reviews — endless delays erode capital.
- Worst-case models treated as fact: e.g., LNT radiation modeling.
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