Armstrong says 'silent majority' supports Coinbase apolitical stance in leaked audio

Coinbase leadership recently moved to curb sociopolitical discourse within their company, mandating that the team should focus on the company's mission rather than politics.

Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong later held an all-hands meeting, billed as an "Ask me anything" session, to discuss changes in company culture with his employees.

Audio of this staff-wide meeting from Oct. 1 was subsequently leaked to media outlet Motherboard; the technology wing of Vice media.

"An internal all-hands meeting obtained by Motherboard shows Coinbase management was accused of 'stunting internal discussion' and that it forced employees to delete political Slack messages," Motherboard wrote.

Armstrong conducted the online meeting to lay ground rules for Coinbase employees going forward, and invited staff to share their thoughts on the company's shift in values.

On Sept. 27, Armstrong published a blog post which detailed how Coinbase would refocus its efforts back toward the company's core mission amid a wild, hyper-political year.

Roughly 5% of Coinbase staff subsequently took an exit package from Coinbase, leaving the company.

Coinbase leadership reportedly spoke with specific staff on the importance of deleting certain content.

"One former Coinbase employee who left the company after the AMA and to whom Motherboard provided anonymity due to fear of industry reprisal said that these assurances were insufficient and workers feared surveillance and censorship," Motherboard reported.

While certain employees felt they were being stifled on their freedom of speech, the change in direction was reportedly met with agreement by Coinbase's top brass.