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Comment by heavyset_go | Hacker News Reader

It's interesting to hear Coinbase management insist that they're apolitical when the company makes significant political contributions itself[1].

[1] https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?...

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Something is off about those listings. The majority of the transactions went to "Brian Forde for Congress" and have the memos like " .03533216 BITCOINS SOLD VIA COINBASE - PURCHASER UNKNOWN". I don't think these are contributions by Coinbase, but Bitcoin contributions that went through Coinbase. There is probably some byzantine election funding rule that allowed or forced these recipients to list Coinbase as the"source" of anonymous Bitcoin donations.

There's not supposed to be "anonymous" donations, that's the entire point of reporting requirements. If Coinbase is hiding political donors, that's gotta be against election law?

Coinbase isn't hiding anything. It's the campaign's responsibility to identify donors in compliance with campaign finance laws. If a campaign is accepting donations of Bitcoin, it's their responsibility to find out who owns the wallet. Coinbase only knows, and can only know, the donor's wallet address. Coinbase doesn't even know what the transaction is for. That was one of the points of Bitcoin.

I think they only claimed to be apolitical in matters that don't affect the company's core business.

Right, lobbying is super valuable for a company whose business is in a legally questionable position on the boundary of the highly regulated banking industry.

This "apolitical" move would be a compelling choice if their only goal was optimizing shareholder value -- it's in their interest to maximize their ability to effectively lobby both American political parties to ensure any future cryptocurrency regulations benefit them.

That's what didn't sit right with me about the Coinbase stance. It seems somewhat elitist to suggest that the board are allowed to hire lobbyists and make donations to campaigns but the rank and file are not to discuss politics in the office.

They don't claim that.

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