Coinbase CEO rejects philanthropy, claiming charities and foundations are “net negative,” and Elon Musk agrees.
In a recent interview, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said that he does not support charitable foundations, claiming they get captured ideologically. His description of charities as a “net negative for the world” has gone viral on social media after X user @genzzztrade shared a clip of the remarks, leading to a reply from Elon Musk.
In the interview, Armstrong discussed how billionaires use foundations to rehabilitate their image. He pushed back against the idea that setting up charities is “noble” and claimed sometimes they do more harm than good. The Coinbase CEO cited the Bill Gates Foundation and gave a contrarian view:
“The common view is that philanthropy is like this noble cause. Bill Gates, after the DOJ thing, is like, ‘I’m going to rehabilitate my image and do philanthropy.’ I guess I have this sort of contrarian view, which is like: a lot of charities are actually net negative on the world, and they get captured. It’s actually remarkably hard to find a foundation that has not gotten captured by ideology.”
The clip went viral, attracting a response from Elon Musk. The Tesla CEO agreed with Armstrong and, in a short reply, said:
“He’s right.”
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“Henry Ford Would Be Rolling in His Grave”: Brian Armstrong Argues Against Philanthropic Foundations and Charities
The Coinbase CEO’s primary argument against philanthropic foundations appears to be a fear of losing control. Armstrong insinuated that charities set up with good intentions can have bad consequences. On criminal justice reform, he said:
“I think a lot of people, by trying to do something good, like criminal justice reform. And then it turns out they just increased crime. All of these unintended consequences happen.”
Brian Armstrong acknowledged advisors asking him to set up a charity for tax reasons. However, it seems that is not enough to overcome his “fear” of losing control. The Coinbase CEO argued Henry Ford would disapprove of the Ford Foundation and said:
“So far, I am just like, ‘No, I’m not going to do that.’ Because my fear is that it just gets captured by some ideology and I lose control of it. If you look at the Ford Foundation, I think Henry Ford would be rolling in his grave if he knew what they were up to.”
Armstrong did mention that he has a donor-advised fund where he puts money to “help civilization advance” but resisted the idea of creating a charity:
“I have a DAF, a donor-advised fund, and I just try to put money toward things that I think are helping civilization advance. But I don’t think at this moment I would ever create a foundation.”
Armstrong’s view on wealthy people forming charities challenges a more conventional view. A large number of billionaires, including Elon Musk, have foundations that they use to support philanthropic goals around the world.
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