Coinbase CEO To Employees: Quit If You Aren't Happy

Coinbase Global Inc COIN CEO Brian Armstrong addressed the anonymous employees behind a petition to remove senior executives at the company, saying that they should quit and find work at a company they believe in.

What Happened: In a series of tweets on June 10, Armstrong called the “Operation Revive COIN” petition “really dumb on multiple levels.”

2/ First of all, if you want to do a vote of no confidence, you should do it on me and not blame the execs. Who do you think is running this company? I was a little offended not to be included :)

— Brian Armstrong - barmstrong.eth (@brian_armstrong) June 10, 2022

Armstrong said that a vote of no confidence should first be applied to him before the other senior executives named in the petition.

 “We the employees at Coinbase believe that the executive team has recently been making decisions that are not in the best interests of the Company, its employees, and its shareholders,” stated the employees in the petition, naming COO Emilie Choi, CPO Surojit Chatterjee, and Chief People Officer LJ Brock.

The aggrieved employees pointed to the failure of Coinbase’s NFT platform, aggressive hiring for roles in an unsustainable environment and rescinding job offers as some of the underlying causes that supposedly resulted in negative reception for Coinbase from the industry at large.  

4/ Third, making suggestions on how to improve the company is a great idea (in fact, we expect everyone to be a part of that). But our culture is to praise in public, and criticize in private.

— Brian Armstrong - barmstrong.eth (@brian_armstrong) June 10, 2022

Armstrong was unimpressed with the petition in general and stated that it was unethical for the employees to post such a document on a public forum.

“It's also dumb because if you get caught you will be fired, and it's just not an effective way to get what you claim to want,” said Armstrong.

16/ If you're unhappy about something, work as part of the team to raise it along with proposed solutions (it's easy to be a critic, harder to be a part of the solution). If you can't do that and you're going to leak/rant externally then quit. Thanks!

— Brian Armstrong - barmstrong.eth (@brian_armstrong) June 10, 2022

Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, Coinbase shares traded 11.53% lower during the pre-market session on Monday.

Bitcoin BTC/USD and Ethereum ETH/USD lost 11% and 15% over the last 24 hours, falling to $24,326 and $1,244 respectively at press time.

Photo: Courtesy of Coinbase