Fair Money & Economic Opportunity

Coinbase presents mixed evidence regarding fair money and economic opportunity. On one hand, its fee structure lacks transparency, with high percentage fees on smaller transactions, potentially impacting users with limited funds

. A Reddit user reported a 2% fee on a $40,000 transaction, which was not disclosed in advance . This raises concerns about pricing fairness and data accessibility. On the other hand, Coinbase offers staking rewards for certain cryptocurrencies and has inclusion policies with subsidized rates for underserved groups, reaching approximately 25% of minority or low-income clients . Given the conflicting evidence, a neutral score is most appropriate. There is insufficient evidence to definitively conclude whether Coinbase's impact is net positive or negative regarding fair money and economic opportunity.

Fair Pay & Worker Respect

In 2024, Coinbase's CEO to median employee pay ratio was 348:1, with the median employee earning $110,125.

In 2018, women were paid 8% less than men in comparable roles, and Black employees were paid 7% less than other employees in similar jobs. Employee engagement, based on Glassdoor reviews, shows an average employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars (74%), a 71% CEO approval, 57% employee recommendation, and 60% positive outlook. Between 2018 and 2019, up to 75% of Black employees left, quit, or were fired. The company conducted significant layoffs, reducing its workforce by 18% in 2022 and 21% (950 employees) in 2023, resulting in a 24% decrease in employee count from its 2022 peak to 3,500 in Q2 2024. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating allegations of employee bribery related to a 2022 security breach.

Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing

No specific, concrete data points were found in the provided articles for any of the KPIs related to Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing. discusses Coinbase's involvement in combating crypto fraud, which is not relevant to supply chain ethics.

describes Coinbase's Vendor Code of Conduct, outlining expectations for ethical sourcing, labor practices, and support for diverse vendors, but it does not provide quantitative metrics on supplier certifications, audit frequencies, incidents, traceability, remediation speed, the percentage of contracts with ethical clauses, materials risk, or supplier diversity spend.

Honest & Fair Business

Coinbase received a $50 million penalty as part of a consent order with the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).

This penalty was related to an investigation into its 2018-2019 compliance program and 2021 compliance backlogs. Additionally, a former Coinbase product manager pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, leading to a Consent Order from the DOJ.

Kind to Animals

No articles provided specific, concrete data points or facts related to Coinbase's performance on any of the 'Kind to Animals' KPIs. The company's core business model as a crypto asset platform is service-oriented and does not involve physical products, animal-derived ingredients, animal testing, animal agriculture, or direct impact on wildlife habitats.

However, without explicit evidence from the provided articles, all KPIs must be omitted as per the scoring rules.

No War, No Weapons

Coinbase faced alleged AML and sanctions violations in 2018 and 2019, which were discovered during a 2020 examination and continued into 2021.

The company had a backlog of 14,000 users needing background checks and over 100,000 unreviewed transactions in late 2021. In January 2023, Coinbase agreed to pay a $50 million fine to the NYDFS for failing to track, monitor, and report suspicious activity, and committed to investing another $50 million to improve its compliance program. An independent monitor will supervise the company until at least December 2023. Coinbase has submitted voluntary disclosures to OFAC since March 2021. The company states it is committed to complying with sanctions laws and prohibits activity with designated individuals, entities, and countries. Coinbase Tracer sources its information from public sources and does not use Coinbase user data. The company does not have mineral inputs in its products or services, nor does it engage in procurement from conflict-affected areas.

Planet-Friendly Business

Coinbase has not publicly disclosed specific carbon emissions figures, detailed climate commitments, or science-based carbon reduction targets.

There is no public data available on the percentage of operational energy sourced from renewables, water withdrawn per revenue unit, or the percentage of facilities with green certifications. Information is also unavailable regarding waste diversion rates, capital expenditure aligned with the EU Sustainable Taxonomy, or the percentage of product lines with full life-cycle environmental assessments. The company has not disclosed data on the ratio of recycled to virgin materials used, the quality of carbon offsets, or the percentage of EBIT reinvested in climate-positive initiatives. Furthermore, there is no public data on supply chain climate transparency, the share of key suppliers with SBTi-aligned targets, biodiversity conservation programs, or deforestation policies. No information is available on environmental compliance violations, the number of environmental impact assessments conducted, or a stated net-zero carbon target year. The company has not disclosed its alignment with TCFD recommendations, the robustness of its climate scenario analysis, or transparency regarding climate-related stranded asset risks. Data on water withdrawal from stressed basins, packaging CO₂ reduction, climate justice initiatives, just transition programs, or climate adaptation financing is also not publicly available.

Respect for Cultures & Communities

Coinbase has over 625 library and other partners through its Archive-It program, which are considered formal partnerships with local community groups.

The company has no reported cultural appropriation incidents. Coinbase also mentions launching localized infrastructure and public-facing products, indicating strong local language support. While the company encourages applications from Indigenous Americans for its scholarship program, there is no specific data on the percentage of affected communities participating in FPIC processes.

Safe & Smart Tech

Coinbase experienced a data breach in May 2025, affecting 69,461 to 70,000 users, which is less than 1% of its monthly transacting users.

The breach, caused by rogue overseas support agents who stole customer data starting December 26, 2024, compromised contact information, masked Social Security numbers, masked bank account information, and ID images. No passwords, private keys, or funds were exposed, and notifications were sent to affected customers on May 15, 2025. The company referred the insiders to U.S. and international law enforcement and established a $20 million reward fund for information leading to the attackers' arrest and conviction. Coinbase conducts annual cybersecurity and privacy training for employees, including specialized training for certain teams. Its cybersecurity risk management program includes physical, technological, and administrative controls, such as access controls, encryption, and data handling requirements. The company recommends users enable strong two-factor authentication, ideally with hardware keys, and turn on withdrawal allow-listing. Coinbase simulates security threats to find failure points in internal systems and has implemented additional ID checks and scam-awareness prompts for flagged accounts making large withdrawals. The company's board of directors annually reviews and approves its Global Information Security Program Policy.