After adjustments to
company policies, popular U.S.-based crypto exchange Coinbase has seen
backlash from employees who disagreed with the changes. 

Coinbase
received national attention for a recent change to its policies, which
required employees to avoid political and social distractions, and
instead focus on its core mission of building "an open financial system
for the world". Multiple commentators, including Jack Dorsey of Twitter, found the new direction to be at odds with the cryptocurrency industry's values.

"We
subsequently decided to make a generous exit package available to any
employee who didn’t feel they could be on board with this direction,"
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in a blog post on Oct. 8.

Armstrong's
post stated that 60 of the exchange's staffers intend to depart from
the company, equivalent to approximately 5% of the firm's workforce.
Additional workers have expressed interest in leaving as well, he said

The
CEO said that despite concerns over the cultural shift
disproportionately affecting the company's "under-represented minority
population", people from such groups have not taken the severance
package in disproportionate numbers.

In his clarifications to
staff, Armstrong noted that employees should not have to pretend that
politics don't exist, and that crypto is an inherently political
industry. He also saidthat "Yes, we are ok being political about this
one particular area because it relates to our mission."

In
explaining how to know what is political, Armstrong declared that "We
recognize it’s a blurry line, and ask that employees use good judgement.
Our goal is not to look for violations, but rather to support employees
in adapting to these clarified expectations."

UPDATE Oct. 8, 18:12 UTC: This article has been updated with additional details.