Coinbase will be adopting new policies and features in the coming months, says CEO Brian Armstrong. His statement comes following recent allegations that an Ethereum trader gained access to a list of coins that Coinbase was looking to add to the exchange before making it public.
The trader bought $400,000 worth of ETH that was on the Coinbase shortlist. The next day, Ether increased in value by 42%. Concerns have been raised that traders have been taking advantage of the exchange’s listing process. The exchange has received reports of people appearing to buy certain assets just before the announcement that it will be listed. As such, they are able to benefit from the price movements that sometimes accompany the listing announcements.
Armstrong, in a blog post, highlighted that Coinbase will stop publicizing its shortlist. The company will announce assets only after it has decided to list them. The exchange will make announcements before any technical integration has begun. Coinbase wants to list every asset that is legal and safe to do so. The exchange is keen to protect its customers and is eager to create a level playing field for all the new assets being created in crypto. Armstrong highlighted that the number of Web3 crypto assets is exploding with a collective global market cap of $2 trillion.
Coinbase wants to enable the important innovation happening in the industry. It acknowledged that customers benefit from the innovations. But the exchange has a role to play in protecting customers from scams and fraud. It wants to avoid getting in business with pricky winners and losers because Coinbase is not an investment advisor. As such, the exchange is setting minimum listing requirements and letting the market decide.
