A Coinbase internal email preempts a New York Times story alleging discrimination inside the company

Cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase has published an internal email intended to rebut to a New York Times story about the company. The story, due to be published at the weekend, will feature testimony from a number of former Coinbase employees who claim they have been racially discriminated against.

According to Coinbase, the story also features information from current employees “including leaked content from Slack, internal company meetings, and documents.” Coinbase knows the details of the story after it was contacted by New York Times reporter Nathaniel Popper to fact-check the story.

What do the Coinbase allegations relate to?

The allegations about the company have come from a number of Black employees. They allege that not only have they faced discrimination in the process of organizational restructuring, but also that complaints regarding discrimination were not properly and fairly handled by the organization.

Preempting the publication of the allegations, Coinbase stresses that all complaints that were filed were “thoroughly investigated, one through an internal investigation and two by separate third-party investigators.” The company states that there is “no evidence of wrongdoing.” It highlights that such investigations “concluded the claims were unsubstantiated.”

The context of the allegations: Coinbase as a mission-focused organization

To understand the context of these allegations and The New York Times’ story, you need to go back to the end of September, when Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong published a blog post emphasising that Coinbase was a “mission-focused company.”

Armstrong argued that Coinbase would be most effective if it focuses on its core aims as an organization and “avoiding distractions.” These “distractions” included issues around policy and social movements such as Black Lives Matter.

“We don’t engage here [in “broader societal issues”] when issues are unrelated to our core mission, because we believe impact only comes with focus,” Armstrong wrote.

The blog post received significant criticism, and was perceived as an attempt to silence activist voices inside the company. Writing for Coindesk, Emily Parker noted that Armstong “wants to be apolitical about the disruptions that make him uncomfortable, but political about Bitcoin’s mission to disrupt the world.”

Does mission-focus create internal blind spots?

The allegations that will apparently be put forward in the New York Times article at the weekend suggest that such an emphasis on “mission” creates blind spots that have serious consequences for employees at the company.

Coinbase refutes this, saying “we are committed to maintaining an environment that is safe, supportive and welcoming to employees of all backgrounds. We do not accept intolerant behavior.” Moreover, it encourages employees to report “potentially inappropriate behavior.” It mentions that there is a specific hotline available to employees that wish to report issues, called EthicsPoint. There is an option to report in confidence if employees so wish.

Anticipating further interest from other news outlets, however, Coinbase urges employees to direct journalists and reporters to the company’s communications team.