Well, @cobie, with the Kurt Cobain pfp, was never really on my radar, which is probably and always a good sign.
Serious question: why is he so popular?
Apart from Maxcoin in 2013/14, that is the only genuinely old accusation I can think of.
Maxcoin was launched by him with Max Keiser’s backing, and it later collapsed hard, but I do not remember most people treating it as an outright scam and I don't remember hard proofs for a scam at the time.
I also vaguely remember an angry Coinbase employee once claiming Cobie had a hand in pumping bad coins like Polkamon, but I cannot verify that anymore.
What is verifiable is that Cobie flagged suspicious wallet activity before a Coinbase listing announcement in April 2022, and that episode later became part of the federal insider trading case against former Coinbase product manager Ishan Wahi.
My view is simple: if you have a long enough CT history, everyone has some dirt on them.
But with Cobie, I struggle to find anything that matches the scale of what people sometimes imply.
He has been around for years, built a large following through UpOnly, and later founded Echo, which Coinbase acquired in 2025.
And Coinbase has also moved openly into Trump era crypto policy circles, including adding Trump’s 2024 co campaign manager Chris LaCivita to its global advisory council or sending directly money to Trump.
Let’s not forget the embarrassing Brian Armstrong, who is almost constantly trying to lick Trump’s ass.
But that is still not the same as saying Cobie personally sent money to Trump or is supporting it.
That explains a large part of why he is still so influential but what's the real reason?
Admiration?
