Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, did not hold back his admiration for Elon Musk and the purchase of Twitter with the promise of promoting free speech.
Summary
CEO of Coinbase and his admiration for Elon Musk’s commitment to free speech on Twitter
In a roundup of tweets, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong praised Elon Musk and his purchase of Twitter to promote “free speech”.
Here are the verbatim words:
It's a turn around job, props to him for executing on it and taking on the challenge in a way most people could not even contemplate.
Hopefully twitter can be converted to a decentralized protocol over time, which would be the ultimate protection on it being co-opted again.
— Brian Armstrong 🛡️ (@brian_armstrong) April 26, 2022
“Elon buying twitter is a great win for free speech, and probably changes the trajectory of the world more than most people realize. Twitter is upstream of media and culture in many ways, and it was trending in a very dangerous direction on censorship.
It’s a turn around job, props to him for executing on it and taking on the challenge in a way most people could not even contemplate. Hopefully twitter can be converted to a decentralized protocol over time, which would be the ultimate protection on it being co-opted again”.
Just a few days ago, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX concluded his purchase of the social network by paying $44 billion to take over the company, after acquiring a 9.2% stake on April 4 and turning down a board position offered directly by Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal.
CEO and Coinbase and other crypto players happy with Elon Musk’s move
In addition to Armstrong, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has also expressed his full confidence in Elon Musk:
Elon’s goal of creating a platform that is “maximally trusted and broadly inclusive” is the right one. This is also @paraga’s goal, and why I chose him. Thank you both for getting the company out of an impossible situation. This is the right path…I believe it with all my heart.
— jack (@jack) April 26, 2022
“In principle, I don’t believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company. Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness. Elon’s goal of creating a platform that is “maximally trusted and broadly inclusive” is the right one. This is also Parag Agrawal’s goal, and why I chose him. Thank you both for getting the company out of an impossible situation. This is the right path…I believe it with all my heart”.
Meanwhile, Musk himself has been clarifying his own words, probably as a response to the various criticisms raised about specifically what he means by free speech.
Here is his tweet:
By “free speech”, I simply mean that which matches the law.
I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law.
If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect.
Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2022
“The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all. By “free speech”, I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people”.
The reaction of the markets
Every action has a reaction, and after the sensational news of Musk’s almost total takeover of Twitter, the markets reacted.
On the one hand, the collapse of Tesla’s shares on the stock exchange, down 12% in one day, returning to the levels of 18 March. Of course, Twitter’s first-quarter financial results will be released tomorrow, and based on this data, perhaps Tesla’s stock market performance won’t become so relevant.
On the other hand, when looking at the crypto chart, Dogecoin (DOGE), Musk’s favourite memecoin, has seen a 30% price pump.
