Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong reveals the exchange’s strategy to list new altcoin projects. The revelations came from an interview with Lex Fridman.
Coinbase CEO explains what altcoins need to be listed on the exchange
In an interview with Lex Fridman, Brian Armstrong says the first step in listing an altcoin on the exchange is to determine if the token qualifies as an unregistered security:
Basically we have a legality test. ‘Do we believe this is a security?’ we check. If so, it cannot be listed on Coinbase. And we have a very rigorous process for this.
As you follow on Kriptokoin.com, in the past weeks, the SEC has disclosed executives who are insider trading on Coinbase. In a petition that took the process to court, the SEC placed 9 altcoins in security status. It seems that Coinbase is rigorously eliminating altcoins in this regard. Brian Armstrong says he worked with the SEC when selecting projects:
You can’t do that, as the laws are in the US right now. We have obtained a broker-dealer license from the SEC. We are trying to work with them to make this operational and hopefully one day we will be able to trade real crypto securities, but that is not possible in the US today.
Armstrong predicts there will eventually be “millions” of cryptocurrencies
Armstrong says that after legality comes safety. He states that, under the necessary conditions, their goal is to list as many projects as possible. While doing this, the exchange stays away from supporting any altcoin specifically. Armstrong says in part of the podcast:
Then we look at the cybersecurity of cryptocurrencies. Do we think there is a flaw in the smart contract or is there a way someone can manipulate it without the client’s consent? We also look at some pieces of harmony, like the actors behind it and all sorts of criminal backgrounds and things like that. If we believe it meets our listing standards, that’s basically everything for legality testing and customer protection, then we want to list it because we want the market to decide at this point.
Armstrong also predicts that there will eventually be “millions” of cryptocurrencies. At the same time, he speculates that Coinbase could aim to position itself as the “Amazon” of cryptocurrency and offer a wide variety of products as long as they are not fake or dangerous. In his own words:
It’s kind of like Amazon, or a product might have three stars or five stars, but if it starts getting one star consistently, it’s probably fake or defective or something and maybe Amazon will remove it. Otherwise, you want to let the market decide what those are… My belief is that over time there will be millions of altcoins so hopefully it won’t make news when we add one in the future.
About Coinbase
Coinbase was founded in 2012 as a platform for sending and receiving Bitcoin. The company supports thousands of unique cryptocurrencies. Coinbase is a decentralized company with more than 4,900 employees worldwide. Meanwhile, the exchange works with users in over 100 countries. Customers process approximately $309 billion each quarter.
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