{"id":24769,"date":"2025-06-18T19:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T16:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/an-ethical-business-dilemma-coinbase-criticised-for-sponsoring-a-us-military-parade\/"},"modified":"2025-06-18T19:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T16:30:00","slug":"an-ethical-business-dilemma-coinbase-criticised-for-sponsoring-a-us-military-parade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/an-ethical-business-dilemma-coinbase-criticised-for-sponsoring-a-us-military-parade\/","title":{"rendered":"An ethical business dilemma: Coinbase criticised for sponsoring a US military parade"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The crypto community piled on Coinbase after the American trading platform sponsored the US Army parade on 14 June. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u201cSpecial thanks to our sponsor: Coinbase\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wtcZbHLIt2\">pic.twitter.com\/wtcZbHLIt2<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Acyn (@Acyn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Acyn\/status\/1934018536571371719?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 14, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>During the event, the host offered \u201cspecial thanks\u201d to the exchange for its support. <\/p>\n<p>Coinbase became a sponsor after donating to <a href=\"https:\/\/america250.org\/about-america250\/\">America250<\/a> \u2014 a nonpartisan, year-long initiative whose aim is to organise celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Other backers of America250 include the drinks maker Coca-Cola, the investment bank Goldman Sachs and the military contractor Palantir. Palantir was also singled out for thanks during the parade. <\/p>\n<p>According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coinbase.com\/en-br\/blog\/coinbase-is-a-mission-focused-company\">2020 blog post<\/a> by the platform\u2019s CEO, Brian Armstrong, Coinbase intended to \u201cminimally focus\u201d on political issues and \u201cnot advocate for any particular idea or candidate\u201d. In comments to <a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/325383\/coinbase-faces-backlash-tone-deaf-sponsorship-us-army-parade\">Decrypt<\/a>, representatives of the exchange said they had not violated their previous pledges to remain apolitical. <\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the platform became one of the largest crypto sponsors of Donald Trump ahead of his inauguration, <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/crypto\/2025\/04\/21\/donald-trump-inauguration-fund-crypto-coinbase-ripple-circle-18-million\/\">donating $1m<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The ethics question <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Debate over the parade\u2019s \u201cpoliticisation\u201d sparked a row in the community, though most still criticised the exchange. The fact the military event fell on Trump\u2019s birthday added fuel. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Lobbying for adoption and better regulation is important. Funding a 45m sloppy military parade is not only not aligned with mission but frankly ridiculous. Someone lost the grip there.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 maria paula (@MPtherealmvp) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MPtherealmvp\/status\/1934503097776410768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In a comment to ForkLog, libertarian economist and Austrian-school proponent Yevgeny Romanenko said Coinbase\u2019s actions were \u201con the verge of a foul\u201d, comparing them to the presidential family\u2019s memecoins \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/trumps-gala-for-trump-token-holders-sparks-calls-for-guest-list-disclosure\">TRUMP<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/insiders-allegedly-profited-nearly-100-million-from-melania-purchases-before-launch\">MELANIA<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cI would consider this plain Coinbase marketing aimed at patriotic Americans. And if we raise the question of betraying the ideals of decentralisation, is not the very fact of centralised Coinbase\u2019s existence a betrayal of them? A rhetorical question,\u201d Romanenko added. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In his view, the whole situation is \u201cthe result of the masses\u2019 consistent rejection of bitcoin\u2019s ideals\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Even so, the goal of business is profit, Romanenko noted. The ethical dimension cannot be discarded either, but it is weighed only insofar as it helps or hinders the company. <\/p>\n<p>He said this environment creates conditions in which crypto firms \u201cnavigate\u201d between community opinion and the temptation to use state resources, including regulation, for growth.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cAll in all, it is a slippery slope of ethical compromises, and once you step onto it there is no turning back. To understand where it leads, I recommend Friedrich von Hayek\u2019s bestseller \u2018The Road to Serfdom\u2019. The only counter is for the community to defend the ideals. For example, by refusing to use the products of such companies,\u201d the speaker explained.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"wp-block-text-wrappers-update-2 article_update\"><time class=\"gtb_text-wrappers_update_time\">19 June 2025 | 16:59<\/time><span class=\"gtb_text-wrappers_update_head\">Update: <\/span><\/p>\n<p>In the view of NoOnes CEO Ray Youssef, financing a military parade is \u201cbetrayal\u201d and signals that some players have \u201clost their way\u201d.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cIt is a clear signal that Coinbase\u2019s values now fully align with those of the establishment. The military-industrial complex is one of the most significant drivers of global inequality, debt, surveillance and displacement. And the US dollar (precisely what bitcoin seeks to free us from) is its fuel,\u201d the speaker added. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>He reminded that the first cryptocurrency was created as a refuge from banks. Therefore, when one of the largest centralised crypto platforms chooses to associate itself with a display of military might, this is \u201cnot merely irony but already a tragedy\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The NoOnes head considers digital gold an \u201canti-war\u201d technology, especially if one understands the essence of armed conflicts through the prism of power and money:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cMost people think of war as guns and tanks. But above all, war is economics. It all starts with the right to print, confiscate, control access to resources. Fiat money is the foundation of modern war. Governments no longer need to ask people to fund war through taxes; they can just print more. Bitcoin makes this impossible.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Youssef stressed that cryptocurrency is the only means of peaceful protest and non-violent resistance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Bitcoin versus war <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Adam Cochran, a partner at the venture firm Cinneamhain Venture, plans to exit all his Coinbase-related positions after the exchange\u2019s participation in the military parade.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Made the decision today that I\u2019ll be exiting my Coinbase positions (stocks\/bonds) and keeping my assets elsewhere for the time being.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been a Coinbase customer for over a decade now, and appreciate the early work they did in the space.<\/p>\n<p>And while I don\u2019t agree with being\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WsuoLjR2pu\">pic.twitter.com\/WsuoLjR2pu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) (@adamscochran) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/adamscochran\/status\/1934603739307888748?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cSponsoring a military parade in a divided country, where views on cryptocurrency already differ, does not align with a [neutrality] policy; and even if it weren\u2019t odd and disgusting, it is simply bad marketing that harms industry adoption,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>A user going by Captain Nemo <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ncerovac\/status\/1934240797064360245\">called<\/a> Coinbase\u2019s actions an \u201cinsult\u201d to the entire industry. In his words, cryptocurrency arose from \u201cthe ideals of decentralisation, individual sovereignty and freedom from repressive state control, not to funnel resources into institutions whose core purpose is tied to violence and the interruption of life\u201d. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cA cultural theorist would say: war is a kind of cultural dialogue when, for various reasons, the parties are incapable of any other dialogue. A libertarian would say: war is a form of aggression. And one must distinguish aggression against a non\u2011aggressor (prohibited by the principle of <span data-descr=\"non-aggression principle\" class=\"old_tooltip\">NAP<\/span>) and defence against an aggressor (a duty of a free person who observes NAP). Violent expropriation of property is a kind of aggression against property, that is, a subtype of war. It is usually waged by the state against society with weapons in the form of taxes and money printing,\u201d Romanenko noted. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>He stressed that bitcoin was created by those who recognised such a threat (from the works of Murray Rothbard and other Austro\u2011libertarians), so the first cryptocurrency was conceived as a means of protection against it.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cIn this sense, bitcoin can be called an \u2018anti-war\u2019 development. More precisely, bitcoin is a means of protecting a person\u2019s money from aggression by the state or third parties. An important consequence: using cryptocurrency not for this purpose, but for fiat trading, is a rejection of its ideals,\u201d the interlocutor concluded. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In June, the US Department of Defense\u2019s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/pentagon-awards-openai-a-200-million-contract\">signed<\/a> a $200m contract with OpenAI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The crypto community piled on Coinbase after the American trading platform sponsored the US Army parade on 14 June. \u201cSpecial thanks to our sponsor: Coinbase\u201d pic.twitter.com\/wtcZbHLIt2 \u2014 Acyn (@Acyn) June 14, 2025 During the event, the host offered \u201cspecial thanks\u201d to the exchange for its support. Coinbase became a sponsor after donating to America250 \u2014 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"","news_style_id":"","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[138,755,1138],"class_list":["post-24769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-coinbase","tag-community","tag-opinions"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"65","promo_type":"","layout_type":"","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}