Brian Armstrong (브라이언 암스트롱), chief executive of Coinbase, stressed that his personal X account should not be interpreted as an investment signal for any particular cryptocurrency.

On July 20, blockchain media outlet The Defiant reported that Armstrong recently wrote on X, "Please do not take my personal account as investment advice or a buy-and-sell signal for individual coins."

He said his posts are simply sharing things he finds interesting or fun. He added that there are times he does not even know what projects or tokens appear in posts. He said his posts and profile photo also do not mean support for or a commitment to a specific project.

His comments came as the market interpreted a recent profile photo change as a signal for a particular token and as controversy continued over community support for Base, Coinbase's layer-2 network.

Armstrong called the reaction "feedback that was tough to hear" but drew a line by saying using his account as 'alpha' for investment information is a risk users take on themselves. "If you treat my X account as alpha, that is a risk you are taking on yourself regardless of my intentions," he said. "I never recommend doing that."

He also reaffirmed a principle of not promoting specific tokens. Armstrong said Coinbase and the Base team will not publicly boost a particular cryptocurrency or promote it in a way that seeks to drive up its price.

"There are many tokens we would like to list, but there are cases where we cannot list them due to compliance and regulatory issues," he said. "If you expect Jesse Pollak, the founder of Base, or me to promote the coins you hold, we won't do that either."

Instead, Coinbase plans to continue supporting the ecosystem. Armstrong pointed to key support measures including an offline developer program called Base Batch, developer grants, investment through Coinbase Ventures and a Base ecosystem fund, and integration of Base-based DeFi protocols within Coinbase services. He said the company will continue support centered on projects that can provide real value to customers over the long term.

The clarification is seen as stemming from cases in which Armstrong's online activity has affected actual market prices. After Armstrong changed his X profile photo to a CryptoPunks image, investors flocked in after interpreting it as a signal of support for a particular token. The related token's price later plunged, sparking controversy.

Armstrong again stressed that people should distinguish between personal social media activity and the company's official policy, while saying it is each person's choice how to take his posts. "If I think it's fun, I may keep posting memes," he said. "But that is not investment advice."

With the comments, Coinbase once again confirmed its existing approach of nurturing the ecosystem through developer support, investment and product integration rather than publicly supporting the price of a specific token. In the market, there has been an assessment that the need to interpret executives' personal social media activity separately from the company's official support policy has been further underscored.

Regarding the recent buzz around my profile picture changes and some feelings that the Base community isn’t being supported enough: I appreciate the feedback (even if tough to hear) and I realize you wouldn't take the time to respond unless you cared. It seems I wasn't clear…