Jack Dorsey says Coinbase CEO should not be apolitical

The Twitter CEO believes that the crypto exchange should acknowledge its position as a political entity

Jack Dorsey, the CEO of social media giant Twitter, recently expressed his disapproval of the Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s decision to move his company away from corporate activism.

He shared Armstrong’s tweet, stating that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies by itself functioned as a direct form of 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.” he concluded.

As a cryptocurrency exchange, Dorsey implies that Coinbase is by default taking a direct stance on a social issue.

In an open letter that was published on the company blog last Monday, September 28, Armstrong stated that his company had an “apolitical culture” and wanted to focus more on the creation of a “winning team.” He explained that while the activism meant well, it had the potential to become a distraction and create internal division.

Armstrong added that activism on issues that were not a part of the company’s core mission “went against their principles of inclusion and belonging,” explaining that the multiplicity of backgrounds and viewpoints within the company would made it impossible for everybody to unanimously agree on what constitutes as a problem and how to go about solving it.

Armstrong explained further that his company would focus exclusively on the creation of an open financial system for the world. The company’s goal would work towards avenues that opened up more opportunities to provide equality of access for all people, but did not attempt “to solve all forms of inequality in the world.”

“We will keep building the most trusted and easy to use financial products that help people access the cryptoeconomy, so everyone can get the benefits of this new technology and we can bring more economic freedom to the world.”

After the letter was published on his blog, Armstrong released a company-wide memo that informed employees if they did not agree with the policy, they could opt to take a “generous” severance package instead.

The CEO stated that employees are given until October 7 to submit a form that will jumpstart their severance if they chose to do so. Beyond this date, the letter explained it will be assumed everyone remaining in the company agrees with the direction that Coinbase has chosen to take.

“It doesn’t mean you have to agree with every aspect, but you should be at least able to disagree and commit to making this new direction a success.” Armstrong said.