Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, did not suppress his admiration for Elon Musk and the purchase of Twitter with the promise of promoting freedom of expression.
Coinbase CEO and his admiration for Elon Musk’s commitment to freedom of expression on Twitter
In a summary of tweets, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong praised Elon Musk and his purchase of Twitter to promote “freedom of expression.” Here are the verbatim words:
It’s a turn around job, props to him for executing on it and taking on the challenge in a way most people could not even contemplate. Hopefully twitter can be converted to a decentralized protocol over time, which would be the ultimate protection on it being co -opted again.— Brian Armstrong – barmstrong.eth (@brian_armstrong) April 26, 2022
“Elon’s purchase of Twitter is a huge victory for free speech, and likely to change the trajectory of the world more than most people realize. Twitter is at the forefront of media and culture in many ways, and it was trending in a very dangerous direction when it came to censorship. It’s a turnaround job, props to him for executing it and taking on the challenge in a way most people couldn’t even contemplate. Hopefully, Twitter can become a decentralized protocol over time, which would be the ultimate protection from being co-opted again.”
Just a few days ago the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX concluded his purchase of the social network paying $44 billion to take over the companyafter acquiring a 9.2% stake on April 4 and turning down a board position offered directly by Twitter’s CEO, parag agraval.
CEO, Coinbase and other cryptocurrency market players happy with Elon Musk’s move
In addition to Armstrong, the former CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey has also expressed his full confidence in Elon Musk:
Elon’s goal of creating a platform that is “maximally trusted and broadly inclusive” is the right one. This is also @paraga‘s goal, and why I chose him. Thank you both for getting the company out of an impossible situation. This is the right path…I believe it with all my heart.—jack⚡️ (@jack) April 26, 2022
“In principle, I don’t think anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at the protocol level, not a company. However, to solve the problem of being a company, Elon is the singular solution that I trust. I trust in your mission to spread the light of consciousness. Elon’s goal of creating a platform that is “maximally trustworthy and broadly inclusive” is the right one. This is also the goal of Parag Agrawal, and why I chose it. Thank you both for getting the company out of an impossible situation. This is the right path… I believe it with all my heart.”
In the meantime, Musk himself has been clarifying his own words, probably in response to the various criticisms raised about what he specifically understands by freedom of expression. Here is his tweet:
By “free speech”, I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask the government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2022
“The extreme antibody reaction of those who fear free speech says it all. By ‘freedom of expression’, I simply mean what is in accordance with the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less freedom of expression, they will ask the government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.”
The reaction of the markets.
Every action has a reaction, and after the sensational news of Musk’s almost total takeover of Twitter, the markets reacted. On the one hand, the Crash of Tesla shares on the Stock Market, which fell 12% in one day, returning to the levels of March 18. Of course, Twitter’s first quarter financial results will be released tomorrow and, based on these data, perhaps Tesla’s stock performance is not so relevant.
On the other hand, looking at the price chart for Dogecoin (DOGE), Musk’s favorite memecoin, he has seen a 30% increase.