Coinbase courts controversy with “everything is fine” advert

An advert poking fun at Britain from a major cryptocurrency exchange has sparked discussion online after being banned from TV by regulators.

Coinbase put out a tongue-in-cheek advert in the style of a musical last week, featuring members of the British public singing cheerfully that “everything is fine” amidst shots of leaky buildings, rats and rising prices.

The ad ends on the ironic message: “if everything’s fine, don’t change anything.” It aims to highlight the idea that the financial system is not working for people at the moment, positioning cryptocurrency as a solution to this.

Brian Armstrong, CEO of the firm, which counts the UK as its second biggest market outside of the US, said that the advert had been banned in the country in an attempt to “censor” its message about “the potential of crypto”. Clearcast, which is responsible for pre-clearing ads before they are shown on TV, said it had not banned the ad but had concluded it di not comply with the

However, the controversy led to the advert being widely shared online, with some viewing it as a pointed indictment of Britain’s direction under the current Labour government.

Keith Grose, Senior Country Director for the UK at Coinbase, said on LinkedIn that the firm’s “first brand campaign, Everything is Fine, launched in the UK this week, and it certainly got people talking. Ultimately we had one goal: start a discussion about the state of the current global financial system.”

However, he said that the ad was not intended as a specific criticism of either the UK or its current government.