Coinbase CEO to meet with Trump to discuss personnel appointments — WSJ

Brian Armstrong, the CEO of United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, will reportedly meet with Donald Trump as the president-elect continues to announce staff picks for his administration and the heads of government departments.

According to a Nov. 18 Wall Street Journal report, Trump intended to meet privately with Armstrong to discuss personnel appointments. The Coinbase CEO did not appear to have donated directly to the Republican’s 2024 campaign or political action committees (PACs) directly supporting him but said before the US election the crypto exchange would be prepared to work with a Trump administration.

It’s unclear whether Armstrong or a Coinbase employee could potentially have a role in the next US President’s administration. At the Bitcoin 2024 conference in July, then-candidate Trump said he intended to establish a “Bitcoin and crypto presidential advisory council” to “design transparent regulatory guidance for the benefit of the entire industry” within 100 days of taking office.

Since the election results were announced on Nov. 6, Trump has announced several potential picks for his administration, even threatening to bypass Senate confirmation to push them through in 2025. At the time of publication, the president-elect had not publicly said whom he intended to nominate to potentially replace Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler, whom he promised to fire “on day one.”

Related: Coinbase CEO wants next SEC chair to apologize for ‘damage’ done

Armstrong posted on X after the US election supporting at least one of Trump’s initiatives, the ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ — which is not actually a department unless established by Congress — under Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Cointelegraph reached out to Coinbase for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication. 

Brian Armstrong’s shifting positions on US politics 

In 2020, the Coinbase CEO said the company would not support “any particular causes or candidates internally that are unrelated to our mission because it is a distraction from our mission.” However, his public position appeared to significantly change in 2023 after the crypto exchange received a Wells notice from the SEC and a subsequent lawsuit for allegedly offering unregistered securities.

After the SEC Wells notice, Armstrong called on crypto users to “elect pro-crypto candidates” in an attempt to achieve regulatory clarity for the industry. In 2024, he personally asked his X followers to vote for Republican candidates for the US Senate in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

Coinbase and Armstrong also contributed roughly $46 million to the Fairshake PAC to support 2024 candidates the committee deemed favored crypto policies, many of whom won their primaries and respective races. The exchange has already donated $25 million to the PAC to help “elect pro-crypto candidates” in the 2026 US midterms. 

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