Why Coinbase's Nasdaq debut is an important moment for cryptocurrency | | | FRI, APR 16, 2021 | | | | TECH, TRANSFORMATION AND THE FUTURE OF WORK | | Think a friend or colleague should be getting this newsletter? Share this link with them to sign up.
CURBING THE CRYPTO APPETITE: Call it a "watershed" for crypto as Coinbase made its landmark debut. Ahead of its opening on Thursday, the digital currency exchange was valued at $100 billion, making it more valuable than the Nasdaq and NYSE. A volatile day for the volatile currency left COIN to close at $85.8 billion, making one thing clear: volatile as it may be, crypto is money, it is real and it is here to stay. The Coinbase listing suggests a turning point in the payment industry with crypto going mainstream – in what's now a bit more of a regulated space. Co-founder Fred Ehrsam spoke to CNBC ahead of the opening – more on that here.
DO BETTER: "While the voting results were lopsided and our direct relationship with employees is strong, it's clear to me that we need a better vision for how we create value for employees — a vision for their success," Jeff Bezos said in his final letter to shareholders before turning the helm over to AWS CEO Andy Jassy. In addressing the union election outcome at one of Amazon's Alabama warehouses as an example of why the company needs to address challenges within its workforce, it's clear Amazon's core "customer obsessed" value needs to go one step further: to its employees. As the new Jassy era begins, we'll see how the new CEO balances these demands at Amazon.
THE TECH CHAMBER: Chamber of Progress, a new tech industry group funded by giants like Amazon, Facebook and Google has announced its support for a corporate tax increase similar to the one President Joe Biden proposed to fund his $2 trillion infrastructure plan. Unlike the Business Roundtable and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, this organization is open to higher tax rates and supports greater infrastructure investment. Is Chamber of Progress making a grand gesture or signaling they are willing to play ball? Either way, it's interesting to see the industry band together with a common goal. But the looming threat of higher taxation from abroad is coming and this will likely arm tech giants with a bit of armor for what's ahead, a worthy tradeoff. | |
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