Is Coinbase in Trouble? An Inside Look into the Drama
Coinbase is one of the most popular and easy-to-use cryptocurrency exchanges within the United States and around the world. With a platform that hosts everything from Bitcoin to Shiba Inu, Coinbase makes it easy for those who are interested in cryptocurrency to buy or trade whatever coin their heart desires.
While Coinbase may look perfect from the outside, there is currently a lot of drama happening behind the scenes. From impulsive executives to toxic work culture, we are about to expose it all, so keep reading.
What Coinbase Executives Are Doing
Much controversy has arisen over various recent decisions made by Coinbase executives. Most of these decisions were brought to light via Twitter/X but have not been verified by the executives themselves—although some, embarrassingly enough, have.
The main issue angering employees is a workplace review system that executives have put into place. This system has been flagged as toxic, as it creates issues as employees are asked to review each other’s performance at their jobs whether or not they have experience in that particular role.
While we don’t like to get in the middle of workplace issues, this one does seem to be an obvious problem that will destroy any symbolism of teamwork Coinbase once hoped to create. Not only that, but the executives have become increasingly condescending to employees both in the workplace and through online media.
Additionally, it has come to light that Coinbase has rescinded several job offers, or rescinded certain benefits originally included in job offers. We understand that the economy isn’t great, but rescinding these aspects left employees feeling deceived and disgruntled, two feelings which don’t lead to productivity. Plus, a quick look at their website shows they are still hiring for several positions, so we aren’t sure why they rescinded certain offers, or at least didn’t pause hiring entirely in the meantime.
Related: Coinbase Cryptocurrency Platform (2024 Review)
Coinbase Makes Poor Developmental Decisions
If it wasn’t enough, the Coinbase executives weren’t just pitting employees against one another, but they were also making poor investment/developmental decisions.
The first of these poor decisions was the branch off and offer a Coinbase NFT platform. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late. The Coinbase NFT platform has barely 6,000 users, which is basically nothing when compared to OpenSea, which has more than 600,000. Basically, it was a waste of money and a huge flop.
If that wasn’t enough, Coinbase has also been hiring prolifically despite the poor economic situation. One glance at their website will tell you that there are hundreds of positions available around the world.
Despite this, Coinbase has yet to produce anything monumentally new products—except for the NFT platform, which was a flop. Therefore, their employee costs have gone up, with little profit to show for the company overall.
Because of the lack of developments, Coinbase stock, under the ticker COIN, is at an all-time low. While shares once cost upwards of $450 per share, they are now around only about $250.
Sadly, the CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, has heard all about these allegations, including the employee complaints, and couldn’t care less. In fact, he made a public statement stating that unhappy employees could quit their jobs at Coinbase and seek work elsewhere.
Who Are the Coinbase Executives?
Currently, the main Coinbase executives referred to in this article are COO Emilie Choi, Surojit Chatterjee, and CPO L.J. Brock. The employees who brought up the aforementioned issues called for the removal and replacement of these employees on April 16th, 2024.
Of course these aren’t the only executives working at Coinbase and their website can give you a better idea of who is currently controlling the once successful company.
Are Legal Troubles Coming for Coinbase?
If you’ve been following the MintDice blog, you know that disgruntled employees may be the least of Coinbase’s problems. Despite the fact that many states rallied for crypto, preventing cryptocurrency bans from being implemented, the SEC has its eye on every crypto firm, including the Coinbase platform.
To date, they’ve given a Well’s notice to Uniswap, are currently investigating Ethereum’s staking protocol, and are in the middle of a messy court case with Coinbase. Pair that with a whole slew of unhappy employees, and the future of the platform could be in trouble.
The SEC's case against Coinbase is ongoing, but it does seem that the SEC is currently winning. While this could change at any moment, it's important to know that the platform's future is unclear.
Related: Coinbase Investigated by the SEC
What Should Coinbase Users Do?
While this blog article may cause you to start panicking, it’s important to know that Coinbase isn’t going anywhere just yet. Not only are they a multi-national around the world corporation, but they are planning to work with many companies launching Bitcoin ETFs in the coming months, which will provide some much-needed revenue.
Blackrock is one of these companies, and although they have expressed concern with the state of Coinbases’ current affairs, they haven’t made any move to ditch the company just yet. The thing is, Coinbase does have a convenient trading platform that is easy to license to companies, the question is whether they will have the employees they need to run it.
Plus, even if the court case goes wrong, it is assumed that Coinbase will make changes to adhere to the SEC ruling. Coinbase has long been a company operating legally in the US, and we doubt a single court case will put them under.
Even if Coinbase does decide to close its doors, rest assured there will be ample notice and directions for receiving your money back from the platform. So, if you are new to cryptocurrency and want to open an account, go ahead.
In the meantime, we will consider monitoring the situation, especially the legal aspect. Hopefully, the SEC will find something better to do than bother established cryptocurrency firms, but until that day comes, we will continue to provide updates.
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