Following Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s recent rejection of woke capitalism in which he declared that his employees must keep their personal politics out of the workplace or leave, about five percent of the company’s workers have actually left the cryptocurrency firm.
Breitbart News recently reported that Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong made a post to Medium in which he told employees to keep social justice and political issues out of the office, giving them the option of leaving the company if they disagree.
Breitbart News reported that former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo took issue with Armstrong’s decision to not promote political activism and social justice within the company. Armstrong’s comments fly in the face of ultra-progressive tech firms such as Facebook and Google.
In the blog post, Armstrong stated that the company would not focus on things such as broader societal issues, stating: “We don’t engage here when issues are unrelated to our core mission, because we believe impact only comes with focus.” Discussing politics, Armstrong said: “We don’t advocate for any particular causes or candidates internally that are unrelated to our mission, because it is a distraction from our mission. Even if we all agree something is a problem, we may not all agree on the solution.”
Now a new report from the Telegraph states that around one in twenty employees have left the firm and taken Coinbase’s generous severance package. Armstrong offered employees that wished to leave six months of pay and insurance coverage. Armstrong stated in a recent update that around 60 employees, or about 5 percent of Coinbase’s workforce, would be departing the firm.
According to the workplace review site Glassdoor, the starting salary for a software engineer at Coinbase is $130,000. Armstrong further clarified that employees remaining at the firm were still free to discuss current events and issues but that Coinbase would not be participating in any broader activism.
“We recognize it’s a blurry line, and ask that employees use good judgment,” he said. “Our goal is not to look for violations, but rather to support employees in adapting to these clarified expectations.”
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
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