Coinbase to release documentary about crypto industry on Amazon Prime

Coinbase will release a documentary about the crypto industry, titled Coin: A Founder's Story, which will premiere on Amazon Prime this Friday.

The documentary tells the story of Coinbase and founder Brian Armstrong, from the company’s initiation until its launch in the U.S. market. Armstrong explained that he agreed to participate in the documentary to “demystify” the crypto industry.

“I agreed to do this documentary because I wanted to demystify what it takes to build a tech startup and encourage more people to start companies,” Armstrong wrote on Twitter.

“I also wanted to demystify crypto. The world tends to either vilify founders or put them on a pedestal. Neither is true – they’re just regular people trying to make something that people want.”

Emmy winner Greg Kohs joined the project as the director, screenwriter, producer, editor and cinematographer. Kosh has been doing documentaries for more than two decades. His previous tech-related documentary project, AlphaGo, was received well by the public. It follows the story of an artificial intelligence program by Google, the first of its kind to defeat a professional Go player in a match.

Armstrong said that AlphaGo was what “convinced” him to contact Kohs to produce the documentary.

“It was a powerful story, and it’s what convinced me to trust him to tell our story. I hope you all go and see the film – and that policy makers see it as well,” Armstrong said. “I believe it will help advance the cause of cryptocurrency.”

Armstrong said that Coinbase gave Kohs and his team “unprecedented access” to the crypto exchange’s operations. The CEO added that the new documentary would display the “good, bad, and ugly” of his company and the entire crypto industry.

Featuring other figures in the industry, like Vitalik Buterin and Michael Saylor, the documentary is expected to show the complexities of starting and operating a business in a sector that has yet to be fully regulated and receives negative scrutiny from authorities around the globe. Armstrong said he wanted people looking to start careers in the industry to learn from the documentary.

Coin: A Founder's Story is not Coinbase’s first attempt to venture into multimedia content production. In July, Coinbase released the first part of The Degen Trilogy, but it was met with poor reception from the crypto community.

Coinbase’s expansions

The major crypto exchange is not only looking to expand its products but also its outreach. Coinbase recently received approval to operate in Netherland and announced an expansion to Australia.

The Dutch central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), has allowed Coinbase to offer crypto products to retail and institutional investors. The Dutch authority supervises Coinbase’s operation, ensuring its compliance with the country’s Sanctions Act and Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act.

Coinbase’s expansion to Australia, on the other hand, will now only focus on retail investors. The company announced that it would launch institution-focused products in the next few months. Nana Murugesan, the company’s vice president of international development, said that the awareness of crypto in Australia was “kind of on par or even better” than in the U.S. and other markets.

The moves occurred amid a crisis in the company. Data showed that Coinbase suffered losses in two consecutive quarters, seeing a $1.1 billion loss in this year’s Q2. The company let go 18 percent of its employees in June to reduce expenses. It also faced two lawsuits, alleging that the company had made false claims about the business.