I was fired from my software engineering job at Coinbase for building an AI trading platform. Here's what happened.

The Email

When I woke up to the email, I knew I should've prepared for the worst.

I didn't expect this.

"The investigation has concluded and it has found that you violated the Company's Outside Activities Policy. Due to this violation, Coinbase is terminating your employment, effective immediately."

So... matter of factly. Without empathy.

Cruel.

I wasn't the only one that was surprised. My entire team, including my manager, found out the day of. I was suspended, left in the dark, then promptly fired... even though I followed the rules.

Here's what happened.

The Offer

Jumping for Joy at My Initial Offer

When I got my initial offer from Coinbase, I couldn't stop talking about it. As someone who has been intrinsically passionate about investing for years, this was finally my chance to apply my passion with a big-boy job.

Who wouldn't be excited?

I got my offer contract and read it over and over again. But not just me. I also used ChatGPT and Claude to make sure I wasn't missing anything. There was one section that seemed particularly important.

Ownership of Inventions.

The clause that was supposed to protect me.

It seemed simple enough. Send an email to peopleops and they'll take care of the rest. I signed my offer letter, sent the email, and started my new adventure at Coinbase.

The email I sent to peopleops on September 2, 2025, before my start date. NexusTrade was disclosed.

Until I was contacted by a department that I had never worked with before... Compliance.

The Conflict

The Conflict of Interest

Now, I want to be very clear about where I'm coming from. I was NOT hiding an outside business from Coinbase. If you know anything about me, you know I'm telling the truth.

I talk about my app NexusTrade all of the time. It's on my GitHub profile. It's on my LinkedIn. It's quite literally the only thing I post about on Medium.

It's NOT a secret. It's why I was hired.

My interviewers asked me about it. My resume featured it prominently. Coinbase knew exactly what I was building when they extended the offer. I disclosed it in writing before my first day, exactly as the offer letter instructed.

But unbeknownst to me, Coinbase had become interested in the intersection of AI and trading. In December 2025, they officially launched Coinbase Advisor. I wasn't paying attention when they made the announcement; I was far too busy refactoring our question bank to let our team configure questions through Cursor or Claude Code instead of the old, error-prone manual process. So when I received a DM from Coinbase's Legal Team, I knew something started to feel off.

I kept my cool and cooperated.

I'm not going to bore you with the details. The Coinbase Legal team had me go through the process. I tried to explain the situation. That my app is an algorithmic trading platform, that I'm a "one-man shop", and that there is virtually no overlap with my role working on institutional onboarding.

They didn't care.

I even became desperate. Started offering concessions like open-sourcing the project or removing digital assets.

They accepted none.

"It materially competes with Coinbase Advisor. It doesn't matter that you declared it. It doesn't matter that you've been working on it for five years. Shut it down, sell it, or resign, your choice."

Yeah. What a choice.

The Suspension

The Suspension

They gave me 30 days to shut down the app, sell it, or resign.

I had poured five years of my life into NexusTrade. Shutting it down wasn't an option. Selling it overnight wasn't realistic. So I tried to handle the situation like a professional. If they were effectively forcing me out over a pre-disclosed side project, I asked if we could negotiate a standard severance package so we could part ways amicably.

Their response?

Instead of negotiating, they immediately suspended me. On Wednesday, March 25th, I was placed on leave for sudden "conduct concerns."

The accusation was baseless. I knew it, because I had actually read the Code of Conduct. During the investigation, they asked me questions like whether I had worked on NexusTrade during work hours (no) and whether I had used Coinbase equipment for it (never). I answered everything honestly. Yes, I had continued working on NexusTrade since being employed at Coinbase, but always on my own time, on my own machine.

It felt incredibly retaliatory: a punishment simply for asking for severance after they backed me into a corner. I raised retaliation concerns to HR on Monday, March 30th. I also raised the possibility of racial discrimination. I don't believe a white engineer with a similar side project would have been treated this way: locked out, shut down, not allowed to say goodbye. Coinbase has said that denials of outside activities are "rare." I wonder who's getting denied.

Coinbase fired me one week later.

They dropped the "conduct concerns" framing, switched back to "Outside Activities Violation," and terminated me effective immediately. They didn't even honor their own 30-day deadline. No severance. No transition. My manager didn't even know until the day of.

Here's the timeline:

• Before Day 1 Disclosed NexusTrade in writing to peopleops, exactly as the offer letter instructed.
• December 2025 Coinbase launches Coinbase Advisor. Coinbase Legal contacts me about NexusTrade. I submit through their review process.
• Early 2026 Coinbase determines NexusTrade "materially competes" with Coinbase Advisor. Tells me to shut it down, sell it, or resign within 30 days.
• March 24, 2026 I ask for a standard severance package since they're effectively forcing me out.
• March 25, 2026 Immediately suspended for "conduct concerns." One day after asking for severance.
• March 30, 2026 I raise retaliation and discrimination concerns to HR.
• April 6, 2026 Fired. "Conduct concerns" dropped. Termination reason: "Outside Activities Violation." No severance. Nobody on my team was told in advance.