Coinbase to Speed Up Process for Approving New Coins, Add DOGE: CEO

brian-armstrong
13 May 2021

Coinbase, known for being particularly choosy in the cryptocurrencies it allows to list, has decided to be a lot more inclusive, potentially bringing in a flood of new revenue as a result.

As part of the new policy, the leading U.S. exchange will be listing meme-based cryptocurrency dogecoin (DOGE) in the next six to eight weeks. Coinbase sat on the sidelines this year as competing exchanges raked in untold millions of fees as trading in dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that was started as a joke, exploded in popularity.

Speaking on the company’s Q1 earnings call, CEO Brian Armstrong said Coinbase is also changing its process for listing coins to include digital assets that have just been minted. In the future the company will start listing what are called “debut” coins or cryptocurrencies that have just been minted and are seeing their first day of trading volume. 

Currently, the company evaluates cryptocurrencies based on the security of the digital asset and whether or not it could potentially be deemed a security. This is the first time the exchange’s executives have said they would list coins with no volume. 

“We’re going to have to do this in the future–be the first to list a number of these coins,” CEO Brian Armstrong said. 

Currently, there is a backlog of assets that the exchange needs to get to, and it’s working on accelerating its coin listing process, Armstrong added.

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