A new document on the first crypto company to go public

The new documentary about the US’s leading crypto exchange is called COIN, but they might as well have named it BRIAN, after their CEO.

Why it matters: Coinbase has taken the crypto industry vanguard in the public imagination (much like Facebook is synonymous with social media). COIN – which is also his ticker symbol – appears to be his effort to evade the criticism that accompanies this position.

Driving the news: The new Coinbase documentation is available today on Amazon, Vimeo and iTunes.

Details: COIN is directed by Greg Kohs who has directed a number of documentaries.

• Most notable here was 2017’s AlphaGo about the AI ​​winning a board game.

The film tells the history of Coinbase, from when Armstrong was young and first getting a computer, to its IPO in Spring 2021.

• It hits some of the key milestones and controversies Coinbase has faced over the years, such as when it bought the company Neutrino, which employed several members of the controversial hacking team, and #DeleteCoinbase was trending.
• It also brings forth a number of luminaries to offer their opinions on Coinbase’s stories. People like technical mastermind Scott Galloway, Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff, and Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin.
• NPR graduate Jacob Goldstein, author of Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing, even seems convincing early on to argue that money is just something that many people agree is money.

Yes but: The film’s true intention seems to be to warm viewers up to its true subject, Armstrong.

• It zooms in on Armstrong’s quirky side. His special way of moving, laughing and interacting with others. He eventually talks about not showing very much emotion.
• It also focuses heavily on a few relationships. His parents get a lot of screen time, but the film really wants viewers to know: Armstrong still has strong ties to his co-founder, Fred Ehrsam.
• Ehrsam left the company in 2017 but remained on the board. He now runs Paradigm, one of the largest crypto funds out there.

Remarkable: In the early days of the pandemic, as Black Lives Matter protests erupted across the US, Coinbase employees rebelled when Armstrong refused to take a stand on the company’s behalf.

• In September 2020, he published a blog post about this decision, titled Coinbase is a mission-driven company.
• “I think if I were to do it again today, I probably would have acted earlier and made it even clearer,” he says in the film.

Using the numbers: COIN is available for $12.99, or approximately 0.000050 BTC at today’s prices.