Coinbase shares an internal email on an upcoming NYT story alleging several Black employees had negative experiences, says it “will paint an inaccurate picture”
none — ever gives you a generous, long runway to respond in the future https://twitter.com/... Eli Dourado / @elidourado : Fools! Didn't you know that when an elite reporter comes after your livelihood you are supposed to just sit there and take it? How dare you tell your side of the story! https://twitter.com/... Casey Newton / @caseynewton : @EricNewcomer Reporters have long memories. Facebook did this once (with Cambridge Analytica) and its relationship with reporters still hasn't totally recovered. Coinbase just made things much harder on itself, I think Zach Holman / @holman : This is a bad look from a company that, once again, clearly doesn't understand human beings. https://blog.coinbase.com/... Alyssa Miller / @alyssam_infosec : Coinbase continues to double down. Trying to head off an expected uncomplimentary article they instead unwittingly do more damage by basically confirming their corporate tone. Yet again reminding me I made the right decision turning them down. https://blog.coinbase.com/... Eric Newcomer / @ericnewcomer : Feel like the realpolitik-style assessments are strange. Shouldn't commentators evaluate Coinbase based on what they think is ethical for Coinbase to do, not just what is strategic? Why root for a company's cynical tactics over ethical decision-making? @villi : Not sure this accomplished anything, but draw attention to an issue where they already lack credibility and trust. https://twitter.com/... @jason : I would argue @brian_armstrong front running the @coinbase @nytimes story is a brilliant move. It shows they are aware of the issues, addressed them, they care, & that they understand bad press is tough on employees Front running might actually be the a the best practice... https://twitter.com/... @ericajoy : @goldman @MikeIsaac my favorite is *only* 3 of the 4 people filed complaints. coincidentally, only 3 of the 4 people were coinbase employees who could file a complaint with coinbase. (because a contractor would have to file complaints with their employer, the contracting company.) https://twitter.com/... Jason Goldman / @goldman : @MikeIsaac This is a fun paragraph. 1) it's all very inaccurate 2) but it contains some harrowing shit we are not refuting or even willing to mention 3) whomst among us tho amirite? https://twitter.com/... Jack Morse / @jmorse_ : Coinbase is freaking out about a forthcoming New York Times article. Never seen a company try to front run something like this. https://blog.coinbase.com/... Antonio Garca Martnez / @antoniogm : Hell hath no fury like elites who feels they're being upstaged by social underlings. https://twitter.com/... @emilygorcenski : My “despite what the NYT is about to say, we don't mistreat Black employees blog post” is raising a lot of questions already answered by my “despite what the NYT is about to say, we don't mistreat Black employees blog post” https://twitter.com/... Sasha Perigo / @sashaperigo : “The New York Times is planning to publish a negative story about Coinbase at some point in the next few days[.]” Thanks, @coinbase, I'll be sure to keep an eye out! https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... Andrew Sampson / @andrewmd5 : turns out the “mission focus” of @brian_armstrong was the continued disenfranchisement of black people in tech. https://twitter.com/... Erica Joy / @ericajoy : @MikeIsaac 1) they're advised by the “media is garbage and we hate them” set, so probably don't care about burning bridges 2) i would not be surprised if this was intended to be a bit of targeted harassment aimed at causing so much grief for the reporter that they rethink running the story Can Duruk / @can : I see the no-drama pledge is going well https://blog.coinbase.com/... Liz Fong-Jones / @lizthegrey : You have a right to talk to reporters about your protected concerted activity and Title VII rights. Don't redirect press to Coinbase's PR team if you're an employee impacted by racism or who has witnessed racist behavior. https://twitter.com/... @rmac18 : I don't know what's in the story and I'll reserve judgment until I read it but I know this: @nathanielpopper is a phenomenal reporter. He's reported on misbehavior and sexual misconduct at SoFi, which led to changes there. He's a pro. Alex Kantrowitz / @kantrowitz : Medium comments rolling in: “Can't wait to read your internal slacks.” https://twitter.com/... @rmac18 : Whenever companies do this they just prime the pump for the coming story (See: Facebook and the original Cambridge Analytica piece). It just gets everyone in a frenzy to read what's coming out. https://blog.coinbase.com/... Michael Arrington / @arrington : They will never stop attacking @coinbase after their decision to ask employees to keep politics out of the workplace. Everyone must bend to their narrative, or else. https://twitter.com/... Mike Dudas / @mdudas : It's a new era. @coinbase front-running @nathanielpopper expose set to run in the @nytimes this weekend. “the story will allege that several Black employees had negative experiences at Coinbase over the last few years.” https://blog.coinbase.com/...
The Coinbase Blog
Context & Ripple Effects
Coinbase took the unusual step of publishing an internal email before publication, arguing the forthcoming story 'will paint an inaccurate picture' — a pre-buttal aimed at shaping coverage of employee experiences. The strategy did not stop the story: the Times piece landed within a day, citing twenty-three current and former employees alleging mistreatment and racial discrimination and ignored complaints.
The episode sits inside a stretch of sustained Times scrutiny of Coinbase's workplace: weeks later the paper followed with an analysis of internal pay data through 2018 showing inequity for women and Black employees, which Coinbase answered by pointing to a new compensation plan. In the article's own thread, Casey Newton invokes Facebook's post-Cambridge Analytica press relations as the cautionary precedent for attacking a story before it runs.
First-order effects
Coinbase's pre-publication defense failed to suppress the story — the Times published with twenty-three named current and former sources, giving the allegations more reach than the blog post could counter.
The company now owns two public narratives at once: its own 'inaccurate picture' framing and the employees' account, with reporters like Newton signaling that the pre-buttal itself became part of the story.
Second-order effects
Reporter relations take measurable damage: Newton explicitly compares Coinbase's move to Facebook's handling of Cambridge Analytica coverage, warning the relationship 'still hasn't totally recovered' — raising the cost of Coinbase's future press cycles.
The Times kept digging rather than moving on, returning a month later with hard internal pay data — evidence that contesting a story invites deeper sourcing rather than closing the file.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, pre-buttals become standard crisis playbooks for high-profile startups even when they demonstrably fail, trading short-term message control for long-term adversarial coverage.
Workplace-culture liabilities compound financial ones: the same company later announced an ~18% headcount reduction it attributed to growing too quickly, meaning reputational and operational retrenchment arrived together — a structural risk for crypto firms courting mainstream legitimacy.
The trend: Crypto's largest consumer-facing companies are discovering that mainstream press scrutiny of their internal cultures follows them out of the niche, and defensive pre-buttals tend to deepen rather than deflect it.
I don't know what's in the story and I'll reserve judgment until I read it but I know this: @nathanielpopper is a phenomenal reporter. He's reported on misbehavior and sexual misconduct at SoFi, which led to changes there. He's a pro.
Coinbase is freaking out about a forthcoming New York Times article. Never seen a company try to front run something like this. https://blog.coinbase.com/...
It's a new era. @coinbase front-running @nathanielpopper expose set to run in the @nytimes this weekend. “the story will allege that several Black employees had negative experiences at Coinbase over the last few years.” https://blog.coinbase.com/...
They will never stop attacking @coinbase after their decision to ask employees to keep politics out of the workplace. Everyone must bend to their narrative, or else. https://twitter.com/...
Whenever companies do this they just prime the pump for the coming story (See: Facebook and the original Cambridge Analytica piece). It just gets everyone in a frenzy to read what's coming out. https://blog.coinbase.com/...
@MikeIsaac This is a fun paragraph. 1) it's all very inaccurate 2) but it contains some harrowing shit we are not refuting or even willing to mention 3) whomst among us tho amirite? https://twitter.com/...
My “despite what the NYT is about to say, we don't mistreat Black employees blog post” is raising a lot of questions already answered by my “despite what the NYT is about to say, we don't mistreat Black employees blog post” https://twitter.com/...
“The New York Times is planning to publish a negative story about Coinbase at some point in the next few days[.]” Thanks, @coinbase, I'll be sure to keep an eye out! https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
I would argue @brian_armstrong front running the @coinbase @nytimes story is a brilliant move. It shows they are aware of the issues, addressed them, they care, & that they understand bad press is tough on employees Front running might actually be the a the best practice... https…
@goldman @MikeIsaac my favorite is *only* 3 of the 4 people filed complaints. coincidentally, only 3 of the 4 people were coinbase employees who could file a complaint with coinbase. (because a contractor would have to file complaints with their employer, the contracting company.…
@MikeIsaac 1) they're advised by the “media is garbage and we hate them” set, so probably don't care about burning bridges 2) i would not be surprised if this was intended to be a bit of targeted harassment aimed at causing so much grief for the reporter that they rethink running…
I have nothing to do with this story and didn't know we were even doing one that said, this attempt at a front-run is mindblowing. theyve guaranteed readership for the coming story AND torched any semblance of trust or relationship they had media https://blog.coinbase.com/...
You have a right to talk to reporters about your protected concerted activity and Title VII rights. Don't redirect press to Coinbase's PR team if you're an employee impacted by racism or who has witnessed racist behavior. https://twitter.com/...
well, any reporter writing about Coinbase now has the incentive to give the company ~zero time to comment on their reporting. good job, Coinbase! https://blog.coinbase.com/...
@dwr Front-running a negative story, without providing much evidence to refute the story, and not even that strong refutation ("only three filed complaints", “no organization is ever perfect") will just draw more attention to it and could make them look worse depending on the sev…
The biggest tell of the whole Coinbase post was the first five words: “In the spirit of transparency...”. When you are spinning what transparency is, it probably isn't that.
For a guy who doesn't want politics in the workplace because it's a distraction, maybe he should consider how much time and energy he's having to spend defending that position. https://blog.coinbase.com/...
Its very funny to me how these people try to pitch themselves as a mission based company. You make a trading platform for speculative assets with no intrinsic value and enormous costs in carbon emissions. Might as well be in the oil industry for all the fucking good your doing ht…
This is odd. Not sure I'm aware of an unwritten rule that the subjects of hit pieces should just sit mute. Not to say that Coinbase is right here, but it seems weird to complain that they're issuing a PR response. https://twitter.com/...
Oh the get in front of a tough story feint. A classIc, but this one is particularly scoldy: An upcoming story about Coinbase. In the spirit of transparency, we're... | by Coinbase | Nov, 2020 | The Coinbase Blog https://blog.coinbase.com/...
“the claims were unsubstantiated” [...] “that said, we know the story will recount episodes that will be difficult for employees to read” 🧐 https://twitter.com/...
Hard agree. There's no semblance of professionalism anymore. Just the other day, I walked up to kick someone I didn't like in the nuts - and he blocked my foot! No warning. https://twitter.com/...
Fools! Didn't you know that when an elite reporter comes after your livelihood you are supposed to just sit there and take it? How dare you tell your side of the story! https://twitter.com/...
@EricNewcomer Reporters have long memories. Facebook did this once (with Cambridge Analytica) and its relationship with reporters still hasn't totally recovered. Coinbase just made things much harder on itself, I think
Coinbase continues to double down. Trying to head off an expected uncomplimentary article they instead unwittingly do more damage by basically confirming their corporate tone. Yet again reminding me I made the right decision turning them down. https://blog.coinbase.com/...
Feel like the realpolitik-style assessments are strange. Shouldn't commentators evaluate Coinbase based on what they think is ethical for Coinbase to do, not just what is strategic? Why root for a company's cynical tactics over ethical decision-making?