Brian Armstrong Addresses UK Ban of Coinbase Commercial, Says Ad a Statement on Financial System Not Working for Many

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is weighing in on the crypto platform’s ad being reportedly banned from airing on television networks in the United Kingdom.

In a new post on the social media platform X, Armstrong says that the ad is meant to point out the failures of the traditional finance system and suggests it was removed by regulators incorrectly interpreting it as political or misunderstanding cryptocurrency.

“Our ad which got banned in the UK by the TV networks has sparked quite a reaction. If you can’t say it, then there must be a kernel of truth in it. Needing to update the system and improve society is not a political statement on either party in the UK (some have tried to turn it into this). And it’s not specific to the UK (we ran ads with similar themes in the US).

It’s a statement about how the traditional financial system is not working for many people and how crypto represents a way to improve that. There are people in the UK who still think of crypto as some kind of gambling product (a very outdated view), and have completely missed the potential of crypto which is to update and improve the financial system for the benefit of everyone. We welcome the attacks and any other attempts to censor this message, as it just helps it spread.”

Armstrong does not say who specifically is responsible for banning the ad, which was posted last week on X as well as YouTube.

The two-minute musical ad is titled “Everything Is Fine,” and highlights an impoverished UK with soaring food costs, crumbling civil infrastructure, and a growing number of people relocating to Dubai.

According to the Telegraph, Clearcast, which approves or rejects advertising for TV broadcast in the UK, banned the Coinbase ad.

Says Clearcast,

“Clearcast reviewed a pre-production script and rough cut for this advert. We considered that it presented cryptocurrency as a potential solution to economic challenges, without sufficient evidence for this claim or any warnings about the potential volatility and risks. We concluded that it did not comply with the BCAP code [UK code of broadcast advertising] and advised that we could not approve this approach.”

The top US crypto platform previously ran afoul of ad regulators in the UK when, in 2021, the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) deemed a Coinbase ad misleading.

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