Coinbase CLO acknowledges exchange’s mistake of labeling Pepe frog meme as a “hate symbol”
- Coinbase CLO Paul Grewal has apologized after the exchange’s email labeled the Pepe frog meme a “hate symbol”.
- Coinbase tried to provide users with a fact-based picture of a trending topic.
- Many users responding to Grewal’s apology called Coinbase to start listing the token.
Coinbase exchange Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, has issued an official apology after the largest exchange in the US sent out an email that labeled Pepe meme coin as a “hate symbol”. The controversial move provoked a boycott of the exchange among many users.
We screwed up and we are sorry.
— paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) May 11, 2023
Yesterday we shared an overview of the $pepe meme coin to provide a fact-based picture of a trending topic. This did not provide the whole picture of the history of the meme and we apologize to the community.
The post followed a move by the Coinbase exchange to provide users with a fact-based picture of a trending topic.
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Coinbase exchange attempts to mend the Thursday screw up
The development came after a May 11 tweet where Grewal said the exchange had “screwed up” when it shared data concerning the Pepe meme coin. Grewal also highlighted that many buyers had co-opted the meme coin as several alt-right groups considered it a hate symbol.
Therefore, the exchange was trying to deliver to its users “a fact-based picture of a trending topic.”
Crypto Twitter has responded to Grewal’s apology, with others calling on Coinbase to list the token. Amid the token frenzy, some exchanges listing the meme coin include Binance, OKX, MEXC Global, Bitget, Gate.io, Gemini, and Huobi.
The development is a culmination of a May 10 email that drove Crypto Twitter to boycott the Coinbase exchange because Pepe was not a hate symbol. In the campaign, members of the space used the hashtag “#deletecoinbase”, which was trending following a move by pseudonymous user borovik.eth to reveal the Coinbase email.
Pseudonymous Twitter user and solidity developer, Kenobi, declared that Pepe is not a symbol of hate and that he would be moving funds to the United States-based crypto exchange Gemini as a result, completing his tweet with the hashtag “#deletecoinbase”.
I will be closing my personal and business accounts with @Coinbase and moving them to @Gemini.#PEPE IS NOT A SYMBOL OF HATE@brian_armstrong, the $PEPE community DEMANDS that you retract your vulgar statement about #PEPECOIN!!#DELETECOINBASE, SHORT $COIN
— Kenobi (@OG_Kenobi_Hello) May 11, 2023
Nevertheless, other community members took neutral positions, including Twitter user 6101.eth, who said, “I never felt the need to delete my Coinbase account based off some misinformed copy pasta newsletter intern.”
I never felt the need to delete my @coinbase account based off some misinformed copy pasta newsletter intern. I truly appreciate all CB is doing for crypto advocacy in the U.S.
— 6101.eth (@coaster89) May 11, 2023
I'm for one am hoping to see an apology email with the correct info sent out at the very least. $pepe
Meanwhile, Pepe (PEPE) price is $0.000001359, a daily drop of 30% after recording an outstanding rally over the last 30 days. The altcoin’s price fell 2.6% in the hours following news of Coinbase’s description circulating on Twitter. Despite the bearishness, it does not write off the meme coin’s remarkable rally, moving from the floor price to record an all-time high of around $0.000004 on May 4.
Author
Lockridge Okoth
FXStreet
Lockridge is a believer in the transformative power of crypto and the blockchain industry.
