Coinbase is spending over $6 million yearly on Brian Armstrong’s private safety, which regardless of accessing an X-ray scanner, wrongly known as the bomb squad over a bottle of tequila.
Final weekend, the crypto trade CEO revealed his safety crew scanned a package deal after it was dropped off by a plain van.
They determined to name within the bomb squad, nevertheless quickly found it was only a bottle of tequila gifted by the All-In podcast.
The battery and wires that spooked the safety crew had been powering the field’s inside lighting.
A white unmarked van pulled as much as my home yesterday and dropped off a mysterious package deal. (I used to be out of city)
My safety crew x-rayed it and it had a battery, wires, and cylinder inside. The Bomb Squad was known as in to analyze.
Ultimately they found it was a present… pic.twitter.com/sXBOf9fxor
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) July 12, 2025
Armstrong gifted the bottle of tequila to the safety crew.
The X-ray scanner and the overly cautious safety crew that operates it are funded via a considerable safety finances.
In 2024, Coinbase spent $6.2 million on maintaining Brian Armstrong secure from tequila — amongst different presumed threats — and has spent a complete of $20 million since 2020.
That’s $17,000 a day in 2024 alone. In that very same yr, Coinbase spent roughly $78,000 on private safety for the agency’s Chief Working Officer, Emilie Choi.
Securities and Change Fee filings state these safety prices embody “certified protection officers, secure lodging, and residential security.”
It claims these protections aren’t “personal benefits, but rather, reasonable and necessary expenses for the benefit of our company and our stockholders.”
Safety has grow to be a focus for a lot of crypto executives over the previous few years following a string of kidnappings, extortion makes an attempt, and robberies.
A number of kidnappings in France, a few of that are believed to have been orchestrated from Morocco, have prompted the French authorities to supply extra safety providers to crypto entrepreneurs within the nation.
Different safety corporations have reportedly seen a rise of their variety of crypto-based purchasers. One Amsterdam safety agency informed Bloomberg, “We’ve had more inquiries, more long-term clients, and more proactive requests from crypto investors who don’t want to be caught off guard.”
Its managing director added, “They’re realizing that intelligent security measures are part of the cost of doing business at this level.”
