Coinbase has Launched a New Crypto Think Tank to Assist in Policy Making

Hermine Wong, the director of policy of Coinbase, has been named the institute's director. She formerly worked at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the Economic and Risk Analysis Division and the State Department.

The Coinbase Institute Advisory Board has also been established. It will include academics from renowned law and financial schools such as Harvard, MIT, Duke, and John Hopkins and a collaboration with the University of Michigan. The University of Michigan has done surveys for the United States Census Bureau and the Department of Defense. It will collaborate with Coinbase on an annual study gauging cryptocurrency use and attitude in the United States.

Coinbase Primers

The institute released the first in a series of "Coinbase Primers" – reports that clarify important crypto concerns. On May 19, it published a "Crypto and the Climate" paper to justify the high energy consumption of proof-of-work blockchains like Bitcoin (BTC). The first monthly crypto market insight report was also produced, comparing crypto and traditional financial market moves. Each report will concentrate on a single topic.

Coinbase also established a political action committee in February 2022, ahead of the November 8 midterm elections in the United States. In 2021, the crypto exchange spent over $1.3 million lobbyings, the most by a blockchain business that year. Coinbase split from the Blockchain Association, the crypto industry's leading lobbying group, in August 2020, reportedly in protest of Binance's admission. In April 2021, the company, along with Jack Dorsey's Square (now Block) and crypto investment firm Paradigm, founded the Crypto Council for Innovation to engage governments, regulatory bodies, and policymakers on crypto legislation.