Yesterday,
Coinbase
CEO
Brian
Armstrong
announced
on
X
(because
obviously)
that
he’s
planning
to
boycott
Milbank
for
having
“messed
up”
in
hiring
recently
departed
SEC
enforcement
chief
Gurbir
Grewal
as
a
partner
in
its
New
York
office.
While
there
are
warranted
concerns
over
the
revolving
door
between
regulators
and
advising
the
targets
of
those
regulations
—
serious
issues
with
the
potential
impact
of
placing
the
responsibility
to
pursue
bad
actors
upon
people
hoping
to
turn
around
and
work
for
those
same
actors
for
millions
of
dollars
—
trust
that
Armstrong
is
not
interested
in
any
of
those
arguments!
He
just
wants
the
industry
to
punish
Biglaw
firms
for
hiring
anyone
involved
in
the
recent
wave
of
crypto
regulation.
The
crypto
industry
hates
the
SEC
because
the
regulator
routinely
poked
at
the
tension
between
crypto’s
claim
to
be
“just
a
currency”
and
its
marketing
as
a
surefire
investment
to
the
moon
—
the
latter
justification
sounding
an
awful
lot
like
a
security.
Sure,
you
can
use
crypto
as
a
currency
to
launder
money,
but
most
crypto
holders
harbor
no
intention
to
use
it
to
purchase
heroin
off
the
dark
web.
Presumably.
As
the
Venn
diagram
of
crypto
fanatics
and
Elon
Musk
stans
forms
a
perfect
circle,
this
isn’t
a
surprising
announcement.
Armstrong’s
call
is
reminiscent
of
Elon
Musk’s
ultimatum
a
couple
years
ago
that
Cooley
LLC
fire
an
associate
for
having
previously
worked
at
the
SEC
or
lose
Tesla’s
business.
Cooley
told
him
to
pound
sand.
Weird,
because
I
thought
clients
pressuring
firms
to
distance
themselves
from
partners
was
“cancel
culture.”
The
earlier
Musk
story
presents
a
curious
juxtaposition
with
his
current
legal
crusade
that
encouraging
customer
boycotts
of
major
X
advertisers
amounts
to
illegal
tampering
and
that
the
advertisers
then
refusing
to
place
their
ads
on
the
platform
violates
the
Sherman
Antitrust
Act,
if
not
criminal
RICO.
It
seems
the
“free
speech
absolutist”
adheres
to
the
rule
of
“boycotts
for
me
and
not
for
thee.”
Personally,
I’d
advise
Coinbase,
a
crypto
trading
platform,
that
it’s
not
great
optics
to
say
“we
refuse
to
work
with
anyone
who
cracked
down
on
fraudsters
selling
crypto.”
The
New
York
Stock
Exchange
doesn’t
boycott
lawyers
for
busting
Ponzi
schemes
for
a
reason.
A
more
sensible
statement
would
be,
“At
Coinbase,
we
strive
to
ensure
our
users
are
never
scammed
in
the
rapidly
evolving
industry
and
we
welcome
working
with
an
experienced
regulator
who
can
help
advise
us
to
identify
bad
actors.”
But
even
if
Armstrong’s
proposed
boycott
is
stupid,
it’s
entirely
within
his
rights.
It’s
also
within
his
rights
to
encourage
others
in
the
industry
to
join
him
(there’s
a
hypothetical
point
where
this
could
become
anticompetitive
collusion,
but
despite
the
fever
dreams
of
Musk’s
advertising
complaint
—
and
the
sycophants
hyping
it
—
none
of
these
boycotts
approach
that).
The
nature
of
free
speech
and
the
free
market
is
that
you
get
to
spend
your
money
wherever
you
choose
and
if
the
crypto
industry
doesn’t
want
to
work
with
senior
SEC
alumni,
that’s
their
prerogative.
As
long
as
everyone
recognizes
that
door
swings
both
ways.
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter or
Bluesky
if
you’re
interested
in
law,
politics,
and
a
healthy
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of
college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
as
a
Managing
Director
at
RPN
Executive
Search.