Twitter’s Jack Dorsey slams Coinbase for its no-politics stance

Twitter Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey joined a chorus of criticism for Coinbase Inc.’s newly announced policy of not debating politics at work, saying it runs counter to the core principles of cryptocurrency.

Coinbase, a digital-currency exchange, has more than 35 million users (REUTERS)

In reaction to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong's blog post arguing that the company should be mission-focused and not “advocate for any particular causes or candidates internally that are unrelated to our mission, because it is a distraction,” Twitter Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey argued that the whole purpose of currencies like Bitcoin, which is traded on Coinbase, is social activism.

“#Bitcoin (aka “crypto”) is direct activism against an unverifiable and exclusionary financial system which negatively affects so much of our society,” Dorsey tweeted. 

To not acknowledge and connect the related social and political issues “leaves behind people,” according to the Twitter chief. The bio section of Dorsey's Twitter profile lists only “#bitcoin,” signaling it's a key issue for him.

#Bitcoin (aka “crypto”) is direct activism against an unverifiable and exclusionary financial system which negatively affects so much of our society. Important to at *least* acknowledge and connect the related societal issues your customers face daily. This leaves people behind: https://t.co/0LMlF1qcmG

— jack (@jack) September 30, 2020

Coinbase, a digital-currency exchange that has more than 35 million users according to its website, suggested that its push for an apolitical stance was a reaction to a growing movement within tech companies for employees' beliefs to be better represented by their companies.

“We've seen what internal strife at companies like Google and Facebook can do to productivity,” Armstrong said in the post. “We are an intense culture and we are an apolitical culture.”

By Vlad Savov