Brian Armstrong Directs Comment to Milbank After Gurbir S. Grewal Hire

With a second Donald Trump administration and friendlier crypto regulations on the horizon, many crypto investors and personalities have drawn their lines.

Coinbase will no longer work with any law firm that hires officials from the previous administration who “committed bad deeds” against the crypto industry.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced the decision in a post on Twitter/X on December 3rd. The move is part of a broader effort by crypto investors and personalities to hold their partners accountable for their actions.

Armstrong's comment appears to be directed at Milbank, which recently hired Gurbir S. Grewal, the current Division and Enforcement Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Grewal has been a vocal critic of the crypto industry and has played a key role in the SEC's efforts to crack down on digital asset exchanges and stablecoin issuers.

In his post, Armstrong says that Grewal and his colleagues “attempted to kill the crypto industry in the U.S. by not putting out clear laws.” He adds that Grewal “stayed in his role to try and kill crypto even though he knew it was ultimately futile and would hurt the country.”

Armstrong also says that Grewal and other officials “claim they were just ‘following orders’ at the agency, but that's not true. Everyone at these agencies has the ability to leave at any time, and many good people did.”

Coinbase's CEO says he is “generally against canceling people,” but he adds that “the crypto industry should not reward these officials with money after allowing this abuse to happen.”

Armstrong concludes his post by saying that any law firm that hires these officials will lose Coinbase as a client.

Coinbase recently introduced its Coinbase 50 Index or Coin50, a benchmark that tracks the Top 50 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. It is the crypto market's version of the S&P 500, and it is also weighted by size and balanced every quarter.

Coinbase is also preparing for the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulations in its European operations. The company has closed its USDC Rewards program in the region to comply with the upcoming rules.

Coinbase is also cleaning up its house by removing non-compliant stablecoins from its platform. The exchange has been actively calling for friendly regulations, with Armstrong describing the current US Congress as the most pro-blockchain in the country's history.