Coinbase to educate users on policies held by local politicians with new app integration

On Sept. 14, Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong announced the company’s plans to begin integrating crypto policy efforts into its app. According to him, this will help the company’s 103 million verified users know where their local political leaders and representatives stand when it comes to cryptocurrency.

1/ Starting today, Coinbase will begin integrating our crypto policy efforts right into our app. These will help our 103M verified users get educated on the crypto positions held by political leaders where they live. pic.twitter.com/3GqWZIioZQ— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) September 14, 2022

Coinbase will rely on some of the data compiled by the Crypto Action Network — a 501(c)(4) organization dedicated to promoting the growth and security of cryptocurrency. Specifically, Coinbase will use a scorecard put together by the Crypto Action Network, which grades each member of Congress on their stance on crypto, based on their publicly recorded statements and actions with regard to crypto policy. The grading system ranges from “A” to “F.”

According to the CEO’s tweets, Coinbase app users will be able to see where members of Congress stand on crypto policy, as well as register to vote and stay up to date with local town hall events. He also expressed the company's plans to expand geographical coverage and add relevant data to profiles of candidates running for office.

The CEO shared that this will “help pro-crypto candidates solicit donations from the crypto community (in crypto)”. He added:

“Crypto advocacy is very important for our mission of increasing economic freedom in the world, and Coinbase will do its part to help. But the crypto community is much bigger than Coinbase - hopefully we can all rally to engage elected leaders and drive sensible policies.”

This announcement from the CEO comes less than a month after chief policy officer of Coinbase, Faryar Shirzad, shared in a tweet:

“The leaders we elect this November will be the ones making critical decisions about the future of crypto, blockchain, and web3 - and about your economic freedom.”