Coinbase CEO Proposes Revamp of Token Listing Process

Brian Armstrong, who heads the largest crypto exchange in the United States, Coinbase, has suggested a rethink of the company’s token listing process to respond to the incredibly high number of digital currencies being created every week.

According to the crypto executive, approximately one million tokens are launched weekly, making it impossible to evaluate each individually.

The Listing Process

Usually, Coinbase puts new assets through a multi-stage process. First, a crypto project requests a review, providing detailed information about the token, including its purpose, technology, and the team behind it.

Next, the review is performed, with the Coinbase team running an initial assessment to make sure the token adheres to its listing criteria. They then perform a more in-depth analysis, examining the asset’s use case, market demand, and regulatory compliance, after which projects that pass are listed and moved into trading mode when they fulfill liquidity conditions.

However, given the huge number of tokens being launched, Armstrong feels they can not all be taken through that process. He also noted that regulators cannot grant up to a million weekly approvals.

To solve the problem, the CEO proposed moving the tokens from an allow list to a block list using customer reviews and automatically scanning on-chain data. He also stressed that Coinbase will continue integrating native support for decentralized exchanges (DEXs), suggesting that platform users do not need to know whether a trade is happening on a centralized or decentralized exchange.

Justin Sun’s Rebuttal

Armstrong’s proposal was met with skepticism from certain quarters, with Tron founder Justin Sun questioning Coinbase’s current listing policies. He claimed that Tron’s native TRX token had been under review for seven years without being listed on the platform despite being among the top ten largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, hitting new all-time highs, and even with a TRX exchange-traded product in the pipeline.

“Will Coinbase ultimately list TRX after it debuts on the NYSE and Nasdaq, or will it never list it at all?” Sun asked.

He concluded that the failure to list the token was due to the American exchange’s lack of “the most basic fairness and industry judgment.”

Coinbase had also faced controversy in the past, especially when it delisted Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC). While the exchange claimed its decision was based on a rigorous internal review and concerns over Sun’s involvement in the project, critics accused it of acting to favor its own tokenized BTC product, cbBTC.

In response, BiT Global, a strategic partner of wBTC custodian BitGo, sued Coinbase, claiming the delisting was anti-competitive and had harmed its operations. Coinbase then sought the dismissal of the lawsuit, claiming there were no rules compelling it to host assets deemed risky. The court is set to consider the exchange’s motion on April 3.