Coinbase is testing a new tactic to shape the debate against the crypto industry: a “global crypto-native think tank.”
The Coinbase Institute, which was announced on Tuesday, will “cut across many disciplines and provide expert analysis and insights about what’s happening in the global crypto economy.”
The key priority for the institute will be the dissemination of empirical and peer-reviewed research. This will include an academic partnership with the University of Michigan to measure household adoption and attitudes toward cryptocurrency.
Meanwhile, the Coinbase Institute has already issued its first report, titled “Crypto and the Climate,” which makes the case that the industry’s high energy use is often justified, and claims that it contributes to new forms of energy efficiency and longterm sustainability.
Coinbase’s launch of a “think tank” is consistent with the mentality of CEO Brian Armstrong, who has often expressed frustration with media accounts of the crypto industry he views as wrong or uninformed.
Meanwhile, Coinbase also broke off from the crypto industry’s main lobbying body, Blockchain Association, to back a new group called the Crypto Council for Innovation along with Block (formerly Square), Fidelity, and the venture fund Paradigm.
Despite an ample budget, the new group has had little impact on policy debates, though executives there say its influence will ramp up in coming months.
