Opinion: Coinbase would end democracy if it helped Bitcoin

Coinbase once wrote a manifesto in which it declared, “We don’t advocate for any particular cause or candidates internally that are unrelated to our mission, because it is a distraction from our mission.” Employees are told in their internal communication policies that they will not “debate causes or political candidates internally that are unrelated to work.”

Despite this policy, Coinbase has still maintained external endorsements of candidates, with Brian Armstrong highlighting that Coinbase has integrated its “crypto policy efforts right into our app.”

For the 2022 election, Coinbase has also continued to support political candidates through its Coinbase Innovation PAC. Presumably, these candidates must be related to Coinbase’s mission since they are advocating for them, but several of these candidates have actively worked to undermine and destroy democracy in the United States, a fact apparently unrelated to Coinbase’s mission.

These politicians include: 

• David Schweikert, who voted against the certification of Electoral College results, and was found to have committed a variety of ethics violations surrounding the misuse of campaign funds. 
• Cynthia Lummis, who voted against certification of Electoral College results and has also previously changed her Twitter profile picture to show her endorsement of the #LaserEyesUntil100k movement, Lummis’ office has yet to respond to a request for comment on whether her endorsement of a specific price target for a volatile asset while a sitting congressperson represents a potential ethical violation.
• Ted Budd, who voted against certification of Electoral College results and who was also engaged in an ethical issue during the COVID-19 pandemic where he had people voting for him in the House while he was absent, cited the pandemic as the reason but was actually attending the CPAC conference.
• Steve Daines, who publicly committed to voting against certification, waited until the Capitol was stormed by insurrectionists, and then he changed his mind.
• Bill Hagerty, who publicly committed to voting against certification, waited until the Capitol was stormed by insurrectionists, and then he changed his mind.

Read more: CFTC demands Coinbase user data in suspected Bybit probe

This is separate from Coinbase’s lobbying activities, which have often centered around many of those same candidates and the bills they have proposed. It is also distinct from Circle’s lobbying efforts, which have also targeted bills written by several of these candidates.

Coinbase has made it abundantly clear that it’s entirely willing to support those who are explicitly working to interfere with the peaceful transition of power, as long as they believe those folks may help Coinbase be marginally more successful.

Brian Armstrong himself has also taken to X to share information about presidential candidates, including retweeting a post where anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would accept Bitcoin, a discussion of how book-banner Ron DeSantis would treat Bitcoin, and a quote tweet where he specifically endorsed Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s view on cryptocurrency taxation. 

Even more objectionable, Coinbase’s internal policies seem to prevent discussing the fact that these political candidates want to end democracy, because Coinbase’s actions have demonstrated that this is clearly irrelevant to the mission.

So to summarize:

• Coinbase can donate to candidates who actively worked to eliminate the basis of our democracy, the peaceful transition of power.
• Coinbase can encourage its users to donate to candidates who actively worked to eliminate our democracy.
• Coinbase employees are forbidden from discussing the fact that these candidates actively worked to eliminate our democracy.
• Brian Armstrong, however, can retweet posts about anti-vaxxers accepting Bitcoin or how homophobic/transphobic/anti-book crusaders want to treat Bitcoin.

Just remember when Coinbase says it’s a ‘mission-focused company’ that mission is Coinbase’s success, and it thinks it’s more important than democracy.

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