Industry golden child Coinbase has long been known for its forward-thinking, leading the cryptocurrency space to new heights over the past six years. With an unexpected announcement made on Tuesday, the firm’s top brass still seems hell-bent on continuing to establish a new frontier in the context of this up and coming technology.
Coinbase Takes U-Turn, Implements Formal Listing Process
On Tuesday afternoon, Coinbase, one of the most well-recognized startups in this budding industry, made an unexpected announcement via Twitter, revealing a newfangled listing process that will undoubtedly revolutionize the inner workings of the firm. Prior to this announcement, the San Francisco-based company was very stringent when it came to listing assets, which is evident by the firm’s relatively small roster of supported cryptocurrencies — Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum Classic.
Moreover, the details regarding the exact listing process of the aforementioned crypto assets were rather scant, even though the startup provided a so-called “Digital Asset Framework” that was aimed at providing some semblance of transparency to the listing process. But with this development, which was accompanied by a lengthy Medium post, Coinbase revealed that it intends to “rapidly list most digital assets” through a listing process that will put crypto assets and their teams through the works, ensuring that prospective listees meet a set of requirements.
Explaining more about how exactly this would work, Coinbase explained that it will evaluate digital assets in a “jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction manner,” which means that certain assets will only be available to consumers within a certain jurisdiction in accordance with local laws. Surprisingly enough, it was explained that tokens which gain approval from Coinbase will not be initially required to pay an application fee, but Coinbase reserves the right to impose a fee if the need may arise in the future.
Elaborating on why this drastic move is taking place, the blog post highlighted that current state of the cryptosphere, pointing out that “there are now thousands of digital assets of all types, including coins, tokens, forks, stablecoins, and collectibles,” alluding to the fact that the startup believes it is falling behind the curve, so to speak.
Starting on September 25th, projects looking to list their asset(s) on Coinbase’s expansive range of services and products will (and should) be able to visit the recently-established Coinbase Listing landing page.
VP Dan Romero Speaks On New Offering
Capitalizing on the release of this news, Dan Romero, the vice president and general of manager of Coinbase, made a surprise appearance on CNBC’s “Fast Money” to discuss this U-turn from a business standpoint.
.@Coinbase just made a major announcement. Here's what it is. pic.twitter.com/XUJaac0tWX
— CNBC's Fast Money (@CNBCFastMoney) September 25, 2018
It goes without saying that Coinbase has long been viewed as a gateway into the cryptocurrency industry, so taking into account that time and time again, customers of the firm have asked for more access to more digital assets likely sparked this move. Romero corroborated this sentiment, stating:
“So when we talk to customers, their number one request is to add more assets to the platform… There are [still] thousands of crypto assets that we don’t support, so what we are launching today — which I am really excited to talk about — is listing.coinbase.com, which will allow us to list as many assets as enabled by local law.”
Taking a slight step back, the executive also explained that cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are “a global phenomenon” without a doubt, making it only logical to support blockchain or crypto-focused products and services via the listing of a wide array of tokens, which will allow Coinbase to “shift to a more global perspective.” Ultimately, as touched on by the firm’s VP, this move comes down to pushing Coinbase’s agenda forward to “to create an open financial system for the world,” as put by the enterprise’s now-well-recognized mission statement.
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