The Real Divide in Finance Isn’t Rich vs. Poor — It’s Brokered vs. Unbrokered

[ed]

A new report from the Coinbase Institute argues that the most important fault line in global finance has shifted. The key divide, it says, is no longer wealth or income, but whether people have direct access to capital markets. Roughly four billion people fall into what the report calls the “unbrokered” category — excluded from owning productive assets or raising capital at scale because existing systems rely on layers of intermediaries.

The data underscores the stakes. Over the last 40 years in the United States, capital income rose 136%, while labor income increased just 57%. According to the report, access to capital markets — not merely access to banking — has become the primary gatekeeper of wealth creation, reinforcing a structural gap that traditional financial rails are poorly equipped to close.

[cryptohog]

the “unbrokered” stat is kinda terrifying once u sit with it