Brian Armstrong, the CEO of United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, has renewed calls for crypto users to “elect pro-crypto candidates.”
In a March 23 Twitter Spaces discussion, Armstrong said Coinbase would be making efforts to organize the roughly 50 million U.S. citizens who use crypto into a political force. His statement followed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issuing a Wells notice to the crypto exchange, suggesting a potential enforcement action.
“What we’re going to do is start putting out content where people can contact their congressman, donate to pro-crypto candidates, show up at town halls, make your voice heard,” said the Coinbase CEO. “We are going to elect pro-crypto candidates in this country to make sure that our success is ensured.”
Today at 1pm PT! Join @brian_armstrong, @iampaulgrewal, @faryarshirzad and @chrislehane for a conversation about the recent SEC decision to enforce rules that don’t exist. If the SEC wants to throw the rulebook at crypto, they should have a rulebook.https://t.co/7kgshcrmBy
Armstrong’s call to action was the latest move by the Coinbase CEO representing a change in his stance on mixing business and politics. In September 2020, he wrote a blog post claiming the exchange should not advocate “for any particular causes or candidates internally that are unrelated to our mission because it is a distraction from our mission.”
Related: Coinbase is planning to set up crypto trading platform outside US: Report
Since that 2020 post and following its initial public offering in April 2021, Coinbase executives have openly become more involved in U.S. politics. Armstrong has met with U.S. lawmakers and regulators, and chief policy officer Faryar Shirzad
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