In an unprecedented move, Coinbase chose to hold an online roadshow on Reddit before its listing

This article is from Deep Tide TechFlow.

On Wednesday, the upcoming cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced that it will hold an online roadshow on Reddit to answer questions posed by investors.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted on Reddit:

Hi, Reddit, I’m Brian Armstrong, the CEO and co-founder of Coinbase. I believe that ordinary investors should have access to the same information as institutional investors.

Over the next three days, my executive team and I want to hear your questions about our business, the crypto economy, and more. Feel free to ask us anything!

As some of you may know, we are planning to go public soon, and as part of this process, we will spend a lot of time educating large institutional investors about Coinbase and general crypto technology, which is standard procedure, but I feel it’s inappropriate.

We want all investors, regardless of their affiliation or size, to have equal access to information and the opportunity to engage with us during this process.

So we are trying something new. Over the next three days, ending at 7 PM Pacific Time on Friday, we will accept questions from anyone about our business, the crypto economy, and our vision. Like other AMAs, we will choose which questions to answer based on the number of votes. Once a question is selected, my executive team and I will answer as many of those questions as possible.

The basis for answering questions will not only be the number of votes but also the value to the community and relevance to our upcoming public listing (i.e., topics like our business model, management team, and products are all on the table for discussion). While we will try to answer as many questions as possible, there will also be some questions we cannot answer (legal stuff!), including:

Questions surrounding Coinbase's valuation, expected stock price, or undisclosed financial data.

Inappropriate or irrelevant questions.

Speculation about future financial performance, growth trends, or expansion plans.

Questions about new asset listings or explorations.

Questions unrelated to the public listing process or irrelevant to investment decisions.

Although we would love to, we cannot answer questions in real-time due to regulations from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Instead, we will record our answers and post the video on this page. Additionally, I hope everyone will take a look at our latest company prospectus (S-1 form) and this series of educational videos on our investor relations website when interested.

Armstrong's post has sparked intense questioning and discussion, with over 800 comments so far.

Whether for the IPO or publicity, Coinbase has not taken the conventional route. For example, traditional initial public offerings (IPOs) are not only too expensive but primarily benefit large Wall Street institutions, with brokers and banks charging high fees, allowing wealthy investors to profit first, followed by retail investors.

Coinbase not only skips the traditional IPO but also attempts to break the conventional rules of roadshows: renting expensive luxury offices to pitch the company's value to the wealthy. Just as the decentralized concept promoted in the crypto world suggests, conducting a roadshow via Reddit seems to be a form of decentralized "rebellion," handing the questioning power to the general public. However, such actions may also attract regulatory risks from the SEC, so we will see how this unfolds.

Here are some popular questions from netizens:

1. What are the standards for adding altcoins to Coinbase?

2. What do you think is the biggest survival threat to Coinbase, or what is your biggest concern?

3. Can we buy Coinbase stock on Coinbase?

4. When can ordinary people finally buy the stock?

5. What is the rationale behind launching separate applications/services (Coinbase, Coinbase Pro, and Wallet) instead of having a unified integrated experience?

6. What needs to happen for crypto payments to fully integrate into internet services? Are there any cryptocurrencies you think can achieve this, or are we still waiting for a scalable solution? Will CBDCs achieve this goal? What role will Coinbase play in the value internet?

7. How high do you think the business risk from decentralized exchanges (DEX) is for $COIN? Since the DEFI craze, DEX has shown tremendous strength. Is this something that keeps you up at night? Will they disappear, or do you plan to take action in this area as well?

8. Why is Satoshi's address included in the prospectus (Form S-1)?

9. Most brokers in the traditional stock market have switched to commission-free trading. So far, I only know of one crypto broker that offers commission-free trading, but this seems inevitably to become more common in the future. Considering that most of Coinbase's revenue comes from fees, is there a contingency plan to continue operating in a commission-free environment?