Coinbase Revamps Coin Listing Policy, Suggests New Tokens Will Be Added in Near Future

Coinbase Edits Listing Policy, Will New Coins Will Be Added Soon?

Coinbase is famously selective with the cryptocurrencies it lists on its platform. The San Francisco-based crypto exchange, however, announced changes to its listing policy earlier today that could allow new coins to be listed on the platform in the near future.

.@Coinbase just made a major announcement. Here's what it is. pic.twitter.com/XUJaac0tWX

— CNBC's Fast Money (@CNBCFastMoney) September 25, 2018

Coinbase Vice President Dan Romero went on CNBC to announce the news. Earlier in the day, CNBC and Coinbase had been hinting about “a major announcement.” The major announcement is that Coinbase is changing its listing policy. Coinbase stopped short, however, of announcing any new cryptocurrencies being added to the platform.

Coinbase’s new listing policy will allow the exchange to list coins that fit the firm’s internal standards. Coinbase will no longer exclusively list coins that abide by cryptocurrency regulations in the United States.

Traditionally, Coinbase has only ever listed coins that meet their own internal standards while also complying with US securities laws. Moving forward, Coinbase is planning to only use its internal standards when listing new tokens.

Today, Coinbase only supports trading in five different cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, and Litecoin.

Coinbase is facing increasing pressure from competitors like Binance and Kraken. Binance, for example, handles more crypto trading volume than any other exchange in the world, and Binance supports 300+ cryptocurrency pairs. Traders who want to invest in something other than BTC, BCH, ETC, ETH, and LTC need to leave Coinbase to do so. Coinbase only has nine pairs across these five supported cryptocurrencies.

Coinbase also hinted towards changes towards its listing fee policy. However, they have not finalized details on the new listing fee policy.

Coinbase Clarifies New Listing Policy in CNBC Interview

“What we’re launching today, and I’m really delighted to talk about, is Listing.Coinbase.com and a new process where we will enable Coinbase to list as many assets that are compliant with local law.”

CNBC Fast Money host Melissa Lee then asked Romero about specific changes to the US platform. Would Coinbase be adding any new cryptocurrencies specifically as a result of these changes? Here’s how Romero answered that question:

“I think you’ll see changes globally. We’re a global company with global customers. We are going to take a region by region approach with every asset, with ultimately trying to allow customers wherever they are to have access to the maximum number of assets possible.”

Romero added that Coinbase was “very much engaged with regulators” in the United States and was making every effort to ensure the assets listed on Coinbase’s US platform were compliant with US law.

Next, Lee asked Coinbase if they’re able to list more assets under the current US regulatory scheme.

“We feel confident in our ability to list more assets, but it’s going to be a case-by-case basis.”

Next, Lee asked if certain countries were more regulatory-friendly than the United States: are any particular countries going to have more Coinbase-listed coins than others?

In response, Romero suggested that any coins listed on Coinbase in the future would also be available to customers in the United States. In other words, Coinbase doesn’t appear to have plans to list coins that are unavailable in the United States or do not meet current US regulatory standards.

“I think we’re going to list assets globally. First and foremost, any asset we list we want to have available to every customer. I think you’ll see certain assets listed in Europe and other assets listed elsewhere in the world, but ultimately every asset we list on the platform we also want to make available for customers in the U.S.”

In other words, cryptocurrencies might be listed on Coinbase that are not compliant with US securities laws, which means they will not be available to US Coinbase customers. However, Coinbase will strive to make all coins available to all users.

Conclusion: What Does All of This Mean?

Coinbase has been gearing up for a “big announcement” all day. That announcement ended up being a bit anti-climactic: Coinbase delivered a vague explanation of their new listing policy, including plans to launch cryptocurrencies that abide by its own internal policy – not US securities laws.

Many users were expecting an announcement about new coins being added to Coinbase. That didn’t happen today – but based on Coinbase’s new policy, new coins could certainly be added in the near future.

Coinbase was founded to give people around the world access to a more open financial system. Towards this end, we’ve always taken a deliberate approach to adding support for new assets to the platform.

— Coinbase (@coinbase) September 25, 2018

While one of our top customer requests has been to add support for many new digital assets, we have been determining how to do this in a compliant and secure way that maintains the standards our customers have come to expect.

— Coinbase (@coinbase) September 25, 2018

Today we’re announcing a new listing process that will allow us to rapidly add most digital assets that meets our standards and are compliant with local law, while providing our customers with the tools to discover, evaluate, trade, and use digital assets: https://t.co/6AteNMOnYr

— Coinbase (@coinbase) September 25, 2018

With this shift in process, our customers can expect us to list most high-quality assets over time. If you’ve developed a new digital asset, and it has passed an independent legal and security review, apply to list your asset on Coinbase today: https://t.co/sIXzqXAuiu pic.twitter.com/YoTDkWtt3E

— Coinbase (@coinbase) September 25, 2018