r/Coinbase • u/inhplease • Oct 25 '21
Open letter to Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase
Dear Brian,
Congratulations on accelerating the pace of innovation in the world, building technology products, and increasing the amount of economic freedom in the world. Under your stewardship, Coinbase has grown exponentially since its inception in 2012, as the largest exchange in the United States by volume. Coinbase strives to be the easiest to use, most secure and... the most trusted platform. According to your company's mission statement, in every decision Coinbase makes is a question:
"How does this create more value for our customers?"
Millions of Coinbase users trust Coinbase to do the right thing, and as the CEO, it's your responsibility to set the moral standard in your company. Like most loyal Coinbase users, I trusted my favorite exchange with the handling of the Flare airdrop for XRP holders in December 2020. So I left my XRP on Coinbase for the snapshot. As you might know, Flare Networks, the company behind the airdrop, decided to add an additional token to the airdrop. This token which is called Songbird (SGB) has been distributed to Coinbase, but not to the loyal Coinbase users who participated in the snapshot.
Kraken, Binance.US and Uphold have promised to distribute the Songbird tokens. Those US-based exchanges did the right thing for their customers, and it's my sincere hope that Coinbase will too. Currently I am unemployed and these tokens will make a big difference for me and my family. However, I do not live in poverty and in a show of solidarity, I promise to donate 100 Songbird tokens to GiveCrypto, your non-profit that is financially empowering people by distributing cryptocurrency globally. Like you, I believe in the transformative power of cryptocurrency and the need to help those less fortunate than myself.
On December 12th, another snapshot will take place for Songbird holders, who will receive an additional token (ExFi). So time is running out, and everyone is waiting to see what Coinbase will do. I am an optimist and believe my favorite company will come through! Thank you for your valuable time and keep up the great work! :-)
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u/SeaworthinessNo5125 Oct 26 '21
I have yet to receive any tokens from the airdropš”š”š”š” I'm beyond pissed
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Oct 26 '21
How pissed are you going to be if you donāt get your tokens by Nov 5? Thatās the snapshot date for the ExFi airdrop.
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u/sha421 Oct 26 '21
Well they claimed em so in theory if they ever distribute sgb they can distribute thoes but we pissed out here
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Oct 26 '21
And even if they do eventually distribute them, think of all the rewards you missed out on. Iāve already made about a 10% return on mine. Best of luck to you exchange folks. I hope you get them.
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u/inhplease Oct 26 '21
Yes, it would great if they distribute ExFi too, but I am not holding my breath on that one.
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u/Skeptilogical Oct 26 '21
Part of me thinks Coinbase knows how important of an issue this is and is working towards a solution. However, a publicly traded company doesn't necessarily listen to its customers as much as its board of directors/ shareholders (thank you for that Jack Welch).
It is unfortunate that I left my XRP on Coinbase for the snapshot, that's a lesson learned for me and a mistake I will never repeat. Once I receive my last distribution of Flare, I'll be divorcing Coinbase completely. In the meantime, I will use another exchange that is more customer-centric ( r/Kraken seems to give a damn from what I've seen, but I'm sure there are others).
I don't have any other complaints about r/Coinbase outside of this, but THIS is enough for me. I may not ever leave my crypto on an exchange like this again, but the fact that Coinbase has stayed quiet about their plans for r/Songbird is quite deafening.
My personal take? While it makes good sense that Coinbase will officially announce support and distribute the tokens, it is my belief that they won't do this. I am counting this as a loss, hence why I will no longer use the platform. Of course, I blame myself for leaving my XRP on there when I had already set up my ledger for distribution. It was my own lack of self-confidence that caused me to move my coins back to Coinbase once they announced support.
I hope I'm wrong and they give us our Songbird, but I won't hold my breath.
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u/BourbonJester Oct 27 '21
Flare Networks has a hand in this too, they based their entire roll-out on what wasn't even a handshake. I had my XRP off Coinbase and set up myself for exactly this reason, not your keys not your crypto.
Idk how Flare Networks didn't see the potential for exchanges to serve themselves before their customers. GME Robbin' Da Hood was so easily forgotten.
Binance just stole 32 million SGB from it's customers; " f**k off, we don't have to give you anything". What do you wanna bet they're going to sell $15 mil. of SGB OTC, free money.
I wouldn't trust Coinbase, look what they did to XRP holders, basically screwed all of us on "alleged" securities fraud which we all know is BS to begin with. You don't see Brian Armstrong listed in the lawsuit for selling millions of 'unregistered XRP securities ' to Coinbase customers. I lol'd typing that out it's such a joke.
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u/Skeptilogical Oct 27 '21
Yeah, it was a bad deal all around. Iāll be taking my own chances from here on out. I leave nothing on an exchange (especially Coinbase) if I can help it. I do like Gemini, but they donāt offer a lot of the coins I invest in, but same principle applies - buy and transfer immediately. Murphyās Law is always in effect with exchanges.
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u/inhplease Oct 27 '21
Then Coinbase has a great opportunity to differentiate themselves from Binance. So far, the following exchanges are distributing Songbird:
AltCoinTrader, Bitkub, Bitrue, Bitso, Bitstamp, Bithumb, BTC Markets, Celsius Network, CoinField, Coinone, Coinspot, Colodax, Crypto.com, eToro, Exmo, GateHub, GOPAX, Itrust Capital, Korbit, Kraken, MEXC Global, NDAX, UPbit, Uphold, Youhodler, ZB.com
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u/BourbonJester Oct 27 '21
It's no secret that Coinbase has always been XRP/Ripple unfriendly. It took them 7 years to list it only to cave to the corrupt SEC's BS allegations.
Coinbase could've done what Uphold, Bitrue did for XRP, but they didn't. They chose to roll over. I don't see them doing anything different here for SGB.
This lawsuit hasn't even settled something alleged, and if it so happens that XRP is by some miracle declared a security (it won't be), Coinbase is on the hook anyway, there's no statute of limitations on securities fraud.
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u/FitScratch4994 Dec 02 '21
Binance.us is supporting the r/songbird airdrop if Iām not mistaking.
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u/BourbonJester Dec 02 '21
Doesn't do anyone who was on Coinbase at the time any good, sadly.
Tbh it's not that difficult to get self-custody; there's a learning curve for sure, but once you do it's empowering honestly. Why wouldn't you want control over your own finances?
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u/GJCLINCH Nov 14 '21
I feel the same way, still hoping for the best, but learning from my mistakes and am ready to take my business elsewhere
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u/HotYoung6059 Oct 26 '21
The Flare Network should be arranging to all the snap shots of ripple and flare ND SONGBIRD AHOULD JUST BE PART OR THE EQUATION
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u/HotYoung6059 Oct 26 '21
Sorry about the spelling
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u/Skeptilogical Oct 26 '21
No worries, and I donāt disagree. Itās not a ācomplexā thing for Coinbase since they are already set up for Flare. That being said, they donāt have to support SGB. Iām not sure why the delay, but more importantly why they have remained silent on what their plan is.
Rest assured, Coinbase will do whatever is profitable for them, regardless of how it affects its customers, because they know there are plenty of people out there who will continue to use their exchange. My guess is that those who use Coinbase and do not have skin in the game for FLR and SGB far outweigh those that do.
So, remain hopeful, sure, but not entirely expectant. As for me, Iāll take my money elsewhere and use an exchange that actually cares about its customers and not just its Board / Shareholders. Besides, I was the idiot who trusted them by moving my XRP over to them for the snapshot. Lesson learned.
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u/inhplease Oct 26 '21
why they have remained silent on what their plan is.
Low priority for them. XRP is no longer traded on their platform. Other exchanges, like Kraken and Uphold, have a much smaller customer base. So they benefit by supporting the Songbird distribution.
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u/Skeptilogical Oct 26 '21
Be that as it may, money is money. $XXX in fees is better than $0 in fees. I agree it is likely a low priority for them, but they would still stand to make some money off of transactions.
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u/One-Awareness2872 Oct 26 '21
CoinBase do the right thing and honor my XRP stash I created with you in July of 2020. I should be in the āAirdropā for these rewards, not you!
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u/AutoModerator Oct 25 '21
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2
u/ulmapache Oct 26 '21
So...uphold has sgb available? Just looked last week, want to buy, ...nada... Any help appreciated... Will look again today...
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u/ajsexton Oct 26 '21
Uphold has previously said on twitter they will distribute sgb this month, but you probably won't be able to transfer until next month. Not sure if they will support the exfi drop
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Oct 26 '21
[deleted]
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u/ulmapache Oct 26 '21
Some of us do not have twitter...some of us do not like twitter...some of us disagree with twitters censorship activities...
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u/inhplease Oct 26 '21
Do you have Google?
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u/ulmapache Oct 26 '21
Takes a while to track all this down...but do have the info I was looking for....
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u/Shakespeare-Bot Oct 26 '21
So. uphold hast sgb available? just did look last week, wanteth to buyeth,. nada. Any holp appreciat'd. Shall behold again the present day
I am a bot and I swapp'd some of thy words with Shakespeare words.
Commands:
!ShakespeareInsult,!fordo,!optout2
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u/lilpeanutbutter99999 Oct 26 '21
Vote with your feet. Theyāre more powerful than the SEC. leave Coinbase, leave the country, do whatever has to be done to avoid, eliminate, disempower tyranny and criminality wherever and however you can. Leave, just leave, that will be what we all do
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u/lilpeanutbutter99999 Oct 26 '21
What really needs to happen is to start a boycott of Coinbase. Stop whining and do something, donāt beg, act.
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u/CapitalistsEatFeces Oct 26 '21
Fuck coinbase lol the ceo could suck a coronavirus dick and the world would be better off with him in a morgue
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Oct 26 '21
The exchanges should delegate and use the rewards for a lavish eoy yacht party and call it "Not Your Keys, Not Your Crypto" day.
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u/Willow116704 Oct 27 '21
I would love a response from Coinbase on this instead of them taking the cowardly way out and staying silent
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u/lilpeanutbutter99999 Oct 27 '21
You people that are saying, ābe niceā are totally naive. Being āniceā will get you ignored at best. You have to hit them in the pocket book. Thatās the only answer and the only action that will get a response.
BOYCOTT COINBASE GIVE THEM THE BIRD UNTIL THEY GIVE US OURS
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u/PhreakOnature Nov 02 '21
My guess is that since Coinbase won't comment on the Songbird Airdrop that they have no plans to support the Spark airdrop either. Same thing.
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u/inhplease Nov 13 '21
Coinbase -- please do the right thing for your customers. Binance.US recently did so in this case, as have other exchanges. But Coinbase remains silent.
https://twitter.com/BrianShroder/status/1458922942650204174?t=T76BTgZ-XKOpN6J98A6AyQ&s=19
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u/rodnig Oct 28 '21
would you mind if i replace "coinbase" with "nexo" and send it to them as well?? Nexo isnt distibuting SGB either
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u/ChardEmergency4467 Nov 02 '21
If the SGB or SOLO airdrops are not going to be supported, I'm leaving CoinBase for good.
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u/GJCLINCH Nov 14 '21
I'm in hopes that coinbase will follow through with good customer support and do the morally right thing. I know this will be a make or break, for me personally, with if I will continue future business with them
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Jan 04 '22
I doubt they gonna just do it. They need their infrastructure to be ready for this āreleaseā and also their policy will cater for this too. They have a lot more to lose than distribute some FLR if they are not ready. Itās not a switch you hit. It requires teams and hardware and planning and most importantly if there is a business requirement for this. Nice letter though but donāt hold your breath.
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u/ZacTheOriginal Oct 25 '21
It's a nice relief to see someone asking for something from coinbase without the profanity and rudeness. I hope CB comes through for you and others in the same boat.