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Coinbase has been promoting a new $25 million contribution to the Fairshake crypto-focused super PAC, which, like their May contribution of the same amount, appears to be in violation of campaign finance laws prohibiting contributions by federal contractors.

However, when I noted this earlier this week, I was met with a threat from Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal, who tweeted that continuing to report on Coinbase would be “.... unwise”.

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpolitics #Coinbase

Tweet by paulgrewal.eth on October 30, 2024 @iampaulgrewal Once again, with feeling. Repeating misrepresentations of facts after previously being put on notice is …. unwise. Quoted tweet by Molly White @molly0xFFF As an active federal contractor, Coinbase is prohibited from making political contributions, including to super PACs. This makes $50 million that they have contributed in violation of pay-to-play laws for contractors.
Despite being the subject of our complaint with the FEC pertaining to their $25 million contribution to Fairshake in May, which was also within the prohibited time period, Coinbase has brazenly doubled this amount with a second contribution. While they’ve not (at least that I’ve seen) argued that they were unaware of this campaign finance prohibition, which would already be unlikely given clear warnings on Fairshake’s website that contributions by federal contractors are prohibited, this newest contribution seems to definitively remove that potential line of argument for them. Instead, Coinbase’s only rebuttal to our complainta has been to claim that, despite that pesky federal contract of theirs, they somehow aren’t a federal contractor due to a detail in how the contract is funded. Because the contract is being paid out of the pool of seized cryptocurrencies and other assets known as the Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture Fund, they’ve argued they do not fall within the definition of “federal contractor”16 used by the FEC because they are not paid with “funds appropriated by the Congress” — an argument that lawyers at Public Citizen have plainly described as “incorrect”, and one that we rebutted on August 5 in our supplemental filing (citations omitted here): As the Supreme Court has recently explained, “an appropriation is simply a law that authorizes expenditures from a specified source of public money for designated purposes.” Under this definition, Congress’s ena
Coinbase’s only communications with me since the FEC complaint have been public, made via a handful of tweets171819 from Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal. In them, he outlined this argument while also insinuating that I am intentionally spreading “misinformation” on behalf of my shadowy backers. While Grewal has come up with this rather creative legal theory under which he argues Coinbase’s contributions were not prohibited, he has not identified any factual errors in my reporting. As far as I’m aware, neither he nor anyone else from Coinbase have commented on our position since we made the supplemental filing on August 5, except to repeat the claim in a tweet19 (without adding any further support for it) that the funds with which they’re being paid are not Congressionally appropriated. Despite that, Grewal retweeted my recent post highlighting Coinbase’s newest contribution and its apparent violation of this prohibition with a threat, writing: “Once again, with feeling. Repeating misrepresentations of facts after previously being put on noticec is …. unwise.” And for the record, Grewal is not some total hack with no legal background, but is in fact an ex-magistrate judge who has somehow now found himself reduced to issuing impotent threats on Twitter for Coinbase. (I assume the position pays pretty well, but I can’t imagine any salary at which I would be willing to post with a straight face that it would be “.... unwise” for a writer to continue to report on my company).
#crypto #cryptocurrency #uspolitics #coinbase

Elsewhere, Coinbase’s astroturfed “Stand With Crypto” lobbying group threw a Black Keys concert to benefit Bernie Moreno (R-OH). Perhaps because so few people showed up, half the audience were left watching the backs of the performers. “Weirdest gig we’ve ever played”, said the band.

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpolitics #USpol #Coinbase

Despite leaving Bernie Moreno off their endorsements list, Stand With Crypto threw a private benefit concert in Akron, Ohio that was nonetheless free to attend for anyone willing to fork over their contact information and download the Coinbase app. Headlining the show was the formerly popular band The Black Keys, self-described “pretty liberal motherfuckers” who once made fun of “right-clicking” NFTs, who have now found themselves playing a show to benefit a staunchly conservative candidate whose election could turn the Senate over to a Republican majority.21 Likely, they chose to take this gig for the paycheck despite all that after they were forced to cancel every concert on their planned tour this summer due to poor ticket sales. The Black Keys themselves, from the stage, referred to the event as the “weirdest gig we’ve ever played” — perhaps referring to the fact that their staging was set up backwards, with the band facing around 250 attendees standing with them on the stage, but leaving the large orchestra seating area empty and the roughly 250 people in the balcony area left to stare at scaffolding for the lights, and the performers’ backs. This bizarre choice was likely related to the fact that only around 500 people bothered to show up for a free concert in a venue that seats five times as many people. After more than thirty minutes of opening remarks extolling the virtues of crypto, during which one attendee joked they’d been tricked into attending a time-share
#crypto #cryptocurrency #uspol #uspolitics #coinbase

Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal has now replied with a threat:

#Coinbase #crypto #cryptocurrency #USpolitics #USpol

Tweet by paulgrewal.eth @iampaulgrewal Once again, with feeling. Repeating misrepresentations of facts after previously being put on notice is …. unwise. Quoted tweet by Molly White @molly0xFFF As an active federal contractor, Coinbase is prohibited from making political contributions, including to super PACs. This makes $50 million that they have contributed in violation of pay-to-play laws for contractors. 1h
#crypto #cryptocurrency #uspol #uspolitics #coinbase

As an active federal contractor, Coinbase is prohibited from making political contributions, including to super PACs. This makes $50 million that they have contributed in violation of pay-to-play laws for contractors.

#Coinbase #crypto #cryptocurrency #USpolitics #USpol

Tweet by Brian Armstrong @brian_armstrong We get the U.S. election results in 6 days, and no matter how you slice it, it will be the most pro-crypto congress ever. But we're not slowing down post-election. Today I'm announcing that @coinbase has committed another $25M to support Fairshake PAC, which they will use leading up to the 2026 midterms to elect pro-crypto candidates. We're also supporting @standwithcrypto in their stretch goal to reach 4m advocates by the 2026 midterms. The crypto voter is already a force to be reckoned with, but it will continue to grow. We're going to keep showing up to protect our customer's rights and help get sensible legislation passed in major markets around the world.
#crypto #cryptocurrency #uspol #uspolitics #coinbase

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