Economics/Class Relations

Inside Coinbase’s $1 billion flop

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By Shontell Alyson, Fortune

Despite recent market volatility, it’s clear that crypto is here to stay both as an asset class and as a technology.
Banks and companies are investing in blockchain technology to prepare for the next moon shot, while protocols are ever evolving. The crypto and blockchain revolution will transform nearly every industry Fortune covers.

 

That’s why we’re excited to announce our new vertical, Fortune Crypto, which launched Tuesday.

 

Our crypto team has hit the ground running, going behind the scenes of the historic Ethereum merge, making sense of regulatory uncertainty, and exposing Coinbase’s $1 billion failed crypto philanthropy project—which the company hoped would take Bitcoin mainstream.

 

Instead, Coinbase’s GiveCrypto “would come to represent the dark side of crypto-based charity,” writes reporter Leo Schwartz.

 

Leo spoke with six global ambassadors who were hired by GiveCrypto to distribute cryptocurrency directly to those in need. The ambassadors detailed how they took on more and more work, sometimes putting in 12-hours days. Leo also learned that GiveCrypto was not paying ambassadors or abruptly cut off payments without notice.

 

Check out Leo’s full story, below.
How Coinbase’s $1 billion crypto philanthropy ambitions left a trail of disappointment and workers in the lurch

 

GiveCrypto hoped to distribute Bitcoin to those in need. Instead it became a mess of illogical coordination, misplaced assurances, and unpaid labor. Inside the murky world of crypto-based charity: a force for good or misplaced marketing?
BY LEO SCHWARTZ

SEPTEMBER 20, 2022
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A note from Fortune
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Categories: Economics/Class Relations

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