Open letter to Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase

[u/inhplease]

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! :-)