- Coinbase sponsors the US Army's 250th anniversary parade.
- Critics say the move is antithetical to crypto.
- Other question if it goes against the exchange's previous commitment to political neutrality.
“Gross.”
“Heartbreaking.”
“An insult to everything our industry stands for.”
Coinbase is facing widespread backlash over its decision to sponsor the US army’s 250th anniversary military parade, which took place in the Capitol on Saturday in conjunction with President Donald Trump’s own birthday.
The US crypto exchange’s name and branding appeared on screens, banners, and over loudspeakers at the event alongside other corporate sponsors, including army contractors Palantir and Lockheed Martin.
Critics say the tie up is antithetical to guiding principles of crypto.
“Crypto emerged from ideals of decentralisation, individual sovereignty, and freedom from oppressive state control — not to funnel resources into institutions whose core purpose involves violence and ending lives,” Nemanja Cerovac, a crypto developer and investor, said on X.
Moreover, the move appears to contradict Coinbase’s commitment to remain politically neutral.
“We don’t advocate for any particular causes or candidates internally that are unrelated to our mission, because it is a distraction from our mission,” CEO Brian Armstrong said in a 2020 blog post.
Corporate capture
In recent years, the crypto industry has become more entwined with the government and corporate interests.
Trump has pushed for the US government to buy up crypto for a strategic reserve while raking in $57 million in profits from a crypto venture he backs.
At the same time, Wall Street financial behemoths such as BlackRock and Fidelity are locking up increasing amounts of Bitcoin and other crypto assets through exchange-traded funds.
The worry among many in the industry is that the cryptocurrency movement is being captured by corporate interests and assimilated into the system that it has long sought to challenge.
Coinbase’s sponsorship of the military parade, they say, is yet another example of this trend.
“The trajectory of crypto from anti-state/anti-fiat challenge to literal sponsor of the guns that back fiat currency, incredible stuff,” Colin Henry, a politics researcher at the University of Zürich, said on social media.
‘Anything not political’
Despite Coinbase’s policy of remaining above the fray, several critics say the parade sponsorship is inherently political.
“Crypto is gonna run into the same buzzsaw universities did by staking out high-profile political positions that have little to do with product or target market,” PaperImperium, a governance liaison for DAO services firm GFX Labs said on X.
“Sponsor a sports team or musician next time. Anything not political.”
“The US military is not political, it’s American,” Viktor Bunin, a protocol specialist at Coinbase, said in response.
“The men and women defending our nation and our way of life deserve our respect and support,” Bunin said. “Coinbase is based and ahead of the curve on cultural issues yet again.”
Coinbase did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Others argue that the sponsorship wasn’t a tone deaf blunder but a calculated move by a company looking out for its bottom line.
Trump has long desired to preside over a display of military strength even though past presidents have largely shunned the practice as un-American.
The administration’s ongoing push to establish new regulations for the crypto industry wasn’t lost on some sceptics, who were dismayed to see a digital assets firm behaving like just another Fortune 500 corporation.
“The thing about Coinbase sponsoring the military is that [Crypto Twitter] hates it, Coinbase surely knew [they] would hate it, and Coinbase didn’t really care because the government is far more important to it than crypto thinkbois,” David Phelps, a crypto founder and investor, said on X.
“Crypto culture has been so successful it’s made itself irrelevant,” he said.
Tim Craig is DL News’ Edinburgh-based DeFi correspondent. Reach out to him with tips attim@dlnews.com.
