‘We Screwed Up’: Coinbase Apologizes for PEPE Newsletter

Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal tweeted an apology for not providing “the whole picture” of the Pepe the Frog meme

by James Cirrone /

May 11, 2023 12:40 pm

dCrypto/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

Coinbase has come out with an apology for its recent newsletter suggesting Pepe the Frog was a “hate symbol.”

Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal issued the mea culpa shortly after #DeleteCoinbase trended on Twitter with hundreds of thousands of tweets, many of them from customers vowing to delete the app and close their accounts.

Newsletter

Subscribe to The Breakdown

Grewal wrote on Twitter, “We screwed up and we are sorry. Yesterday we shared an overview of the [pepe] meme coin to provide a fact-based picture of a trending topic. This did not provide the whole picture of the history of the meme and we apologize to the community.”

Loading Tweet..

Grewal’s tweet had collected more than 400,000 views at the time of publication and was met with praise. One user proclaimed that PEPE had been exonerated, and another said they had deep respect for Coinbase admitting that it was wrong.

“I very rarely see a corporation as large as Coinbase come out and flat out say ‘we got this wrong’ like this over virtue signaling & I have a deep level of respect for them & how they handled the backlash,” DeFi entrepreneur Tyler Scott Ward tweeted.

PEPE has pumped more than 2,700% in less than a month, but it’s down more than 60% since its all-time high

Other users thanked Coinbase for the apology and forgave them, but asked PEPE to be listed on the exchange (it’s currently available only through Coinbase Wallet). Binance listed the token last Friday, coinciding with record highs.

Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.
0xResearch: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst.

Tags

Newsletter

The Breakdown

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Digital Asset Summit 2026

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 24 - 26, 2026

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

buy tickets learn more

recent research

Research

Kinetiq Protocol: From LST Infrastructure to HIP-3 Deployer

Kinetiq has established itself as Hyperliquid's dominant liquid staking protocol, holding 82.5% of LST market share with $610M in TVL. The protocol is now expanding beyond its kHYPE staking core into higher take-rate verticals: iHYPE for institutional custody rails, Launch for HIP-3 capital formation, and Markets for builder-deployed perpetuals. We view Markets, launching Jan. 12, as the highest-potential product line given its mechanically scalable, activity-linked unit economics. Near-term revenue remains anchored by kHYPE's KIP-2 fee schedule (~$1.6M annualized), while Markets provides embedded optionality if HIP-3 economics normalize post-Growth Mode. KNTQ's setup is relatively clean: zero insider unlocks until November 2026, 6.2% buyback yield from staking revenue, and cleared airdrop overhang. Risks center on unproven Markets execution, declining kHYPE TVL despite ongoing incentives, and competition from Hyperliquid's native initiatives.

by Shaunda Devens