Two minutes of musical theatre
On 31 July 2025 Coinbase publishes a 122-second film on its own YouTube channel called "A Coinbase Musical | Everything is Fine". It is the company's first brand campaign in the United Kingdom, and it is a production number in which people sing, in chorus, that everything is fine. The video description puts the argument as two questions: "Is the old song and dance really working for average people and their families in the UK? Or is it time to update the financial system?"1
The Advertising Standards Authority describes the film in its ruling. Working adults sing and dance through a family home losing power, a high street of closed shops, litter and rats, a supermarket raising its price signs and a burst sewage pipe, while a wealthy couple in a convertible announce that they are moving to Dubai. The number builds to a line on screen: "IF EVERYTHING'S FINE DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING", followed by the Coinbase logo.2 Creative Review hears in it "an air of Two Ronnies, a suitably British reference point"; Muse by Clios calls it a not-so-merry musical with Broadway-style passion.3
What it takes to build
The credits run to more than forty lines. The agency is Mother in London. The production company is Biscuit Filmworks with Revolver, and the director is Steve Rogers, with Daniel Landin as director of photography and Robin Brown as production designer. Holly Blakey choreographs and Leanne Flinn casts. The music comes from Mr Pape, with Pippa Cleary composing, Ben Garnett as musical director and Simon Nathan orchestrating. Editing is by Rich Orrick at Work Editorial, sound by King Lear, visual effects and grade by Time Based Arts. Media is WPP Media. On the client side the credits name Gary Sun as vice president of marketing, Michael Tabtabai as vice president of creative and Jean Morrow as group creative director.4
Among those credits are an original score, an orchestration, a musical director and a choreographer, for a film of two minutes.4
Tom Bender, executive creative director at Mother, states the problem the film is built on: "We identified that the true problem in people's lives isn't any single thing, but rather the collective resignation we all hold about how things work, or don't work", which he calls "the inertia of accepting the status quo".3 On what the film asks of the viewer he adds: "Our aim with 'Everything Is Fine' is not to dictate, but to offer a suggestion: that there could be an alternative." Jean Morrow, group creative director at Coinbase, puts the ambition in production terms: "We wanted to connect with Brits on a cultural level and show up with a high level of craft and clarity..."5
Source: Coinbase Youtube
Where a two-minute musical can run
The campaign runs on streaming, online video and social through the end of August 2025, with out-of-home in London, Manchester and Liverpool.5 Clearcast declines it for broadcast, stating that it "presented cryptocurrency as a potential solution to economic challenges, without sufficient evidence for this claim or any warnings about the potential volatility and risks". No British broadcast airing appears in any source consulted. The film appears on Channel 4's YouTube channels, where broadcast clearance does not apply.6 Coinbase publishes no shorter cutdown on its own channel, where the film has drawn about 290,000 views.1
Three posters carry the same idea into print. Each repeats "EVERYTHING IS FINE" in small white type on blue, with a second message set in the negative space. The three read "HOME OWNERSHIP OUT OF REACH", "EGGS NOW OUT OF BUDGET" and "REAL WAGES STUCK IN 2008", and each carries the same end line, "IF EVERYTHING'S FINE DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING", and the Coinbase logo.2
What follows
On 28 January 2026 the Advertising Standards Authority upholds a complaint against the film and the three posters, brought by 35 complainants, under rule 1.3 of the CAP Code on social responsibility. The ruling finds that using humour to reference serious financial concerns, alongside a cue to change, "risked presenting complex, high-risk financial products as an easy or obvious response to those concerns", and that the ads "trivialised the risks associated with cryptocurrency investment". They must not appear again in the form complained of.2 A Coinbase spokesperson responds: "While we respect the ASA's decision, we fundamentally disagree with the characterisation of a campaign that critically reflects widely reported economic conditions as socially irresponsible."7
The steps come in this order. Clearcast declines broadcast clearance at the end of July 2025, and Brian Armstrong posts that the ad "got banned in the UK by the TV networks".6 In early August the ASA states that it has banned the ad in no medium, that it does not pre-clear ads and that it responds to concerns once an ad is in the public domain.8 Its own ruling comes six months after that. Coinbase loses an earlier ASA case in December 2021, over a Facebook advertisement comparing five pounds in bitcoin in 2010 with more than 100,000 pounds in January 2021.9 No effectiveness figure for the UK campaign appears in any source consulted.
Written with AI assistance, edited by a human. Find out more about our Use of AI.
1. Coinbase's own YouTube channel, read 20 September 2026, for the film "A Coinbase Musical | Everything is Fine", published 31 July 2025, 122 seconds long, at about 290,158 views, and for the two questions quoted from its video description. The statement that no shorter cutdown exists covers Coinbase's own channel only, where none was found. Financial Promoter, published by Rhotic Media, 4 August 2025, for the statement that this is Coinbase's first UK brand campaign: "Coinbase has launched its first UK brand campaign, using a tongue-in-cheek production to position crypto as a challenger to the traditional financial system." Neither Creative Salon nor Creative Review states the UK first, so it is carried here on that one trade source. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0bmJlrhRg4 and https://financialpromoter.co.uk/coinbase-challenges-tradition-in-first-uk-campaign/
2. Advertising Standards Authority, ruling on CB Payments Ltd t/a Coinbase, reference G25-1305562, published 28 January 2026, for the synopsis of the video-on-demand film, for the three posters and all on-screen text quoted, for the 35 complainants, for CAP Code rule 1.3 on social responsibility, for both quoted findings and for the requirement that the ads not appear again in the form complained of. The synopsis in the body follows the ASA's description because it is the only account of the film published by a party with no stake in it. https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/cb-payments-ltd-g25-1305562-cb-payments-ltd.html
3. Creative Review, 1 August 2025, for the Two Ronnies reference quoted in the body and for the quotation from Tom Bender on collective resignation and the inertia of accepting the status quo, and Muse by Clios, 31 July 2025, for "not-so-merry musical" and "Broadway-style passion". Creative Review prints the Bender sentence as one sentence joined by an en dash; it is quoted here in two parts so that no dash is reproduced, with no words changed or removed. Creative Review is on the source whitelist; Muse by Clios is off-whitelist creative press. https://www.creativereview.co.uk/coinbase-musical-ad-everythings-fine/ and https://musebyclios.com/music/coinbase-tunefully-insists-everything-is-fine-but-its-not/
4. Campaign Brief, 1 August 2025, for the full credits block, including the client-side Coinbase credits and the music credits for musical director and orchestration, which the other trade write-ups do not carry. Off-whitelist advertising trade. https://campaignbrief.com/mother-london-teams-up-with-aussie-director-steve-rogers-on-bold-musical-spot-for-coinbase/
5. Creative Salon, "Coinbase Embraces Musical Theatre In 'Everything Is Fine'", 31 July 2025, for the media plan of streaming, online video and social through the end of August 2025 with out-of-home in London, Manchester and Liverpool, for the quotation from Tom Bender on offering a suggestion rather than dictating, and for the quotation from Jean Morrow of Coinbase. Creative Salon prints the Morrow sentence with a trailing ellipsis and his remarks continue into a further quoted passage about humour and dancing; the ellipsis is kept and the continuation is not quoted. The piece does not state that this is Coinbase's first UK campaign. https://creative.salon/articles/work/mother-coinbase-everything-is-fine
6. Decrypt, "That Supposedly 'Banned' Coinbase Ad Is Playing on UK TV Channel's YouTube", 12 August 2025, for the Clearcast statement, which begins "We considered that it" and is quoted here from "presented" onward with no other change, for the film appearing on Channel 4's YouTube channels, and for the Brian Armstrong statement that the ad got banned in the UK by the TV networks. The refusal is Clearcast's, not a regulator's. Off-whitelist crypto trade press; used for the Clearcast statement it quotes, not for its own characterisation. https://decrypt.co/334783/supposedly-banned-coinbase-ad-uk-tv-channels-youtube
7. CoinDesk, 28 January 2026, for the Coinbase spokesperson's statement in response to the ASA ruling, quoted in full. Coinbase published nothing first-party about the ruling that could be found. Off-whitelist crypto trade press. https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/01/28/uk-advertising-watchdog-bans-coinbase-ads-as-irresponsible
8. The Block, 4 August 2025, updated 7 August 2025, for the statement by Matt Wilson, media and public affairs manager at the ASA, that the ASA had not banned the ad in any medium, that it does not pre-clear ads and that it responds to concerns once ads are in the public domain. Off-whitelist crypto trade press; used for the ASA statement it quotes. https://www.theblock.co/post/365393/coinbase-ceo-criticises-uk-ad-satire
9. Advertising Standards Authority, ruling on Coinbase Europe Ltd t/a Coinbase, reference A21-1123058, published 15 December 2021, for the earlier upheld case and for the Facebook advertisement comparing five pounds in bitcoin in 2010 with more than 100,000 pounds in January 2021. That ruling breached rules on social responsibility, misleadingness, qualification and financial products; only the fact of the earlier case and the ad's content are used here. https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/coinbase-europe-ltd-a21-1123058-coinbase-europe-ltd.html
