Coinbase Guide Explains Updated Token Listing Procedures
Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, has launched a detailed guide outlining the asset listing process for the exchange.
Overview
- CEO Armstrong reveals a 5-step framework for asset listings designed to improve transparency in crypto approvals.
- Listings are merit-based, free of charge, and assessed under legal, compliance, and security criteria.
- Approved tokens are rolled out via deposits, auctions, and full trading activation.
Armstrong noted on X that the guide was developed to enhance transparency amid a surge of questions regarding the cryptocurrency approval process.
The guide emphasizes that listings are based on merit and are free, with all assets evaluated against consistent standards.
The Five Key Steps for Coinbase Exchange Listings
The asset listing process includes five essential steps:
- Fill out an online questionnaire.
- Coinbase evaluates business aspects, including market demand, community participation, and technical integration needs.
- The asset is reviewed by at least three core examinations: legal, compliance, and technical security.
- The Coinbase team often communicates with issuers via email and video calls.
- Finally, upon completion of the review, approved assets can be traded on the Coinbase Exchange.
Applications must include extensive documentation, including white papers, team bios, tokenomics, source code URLs, block explorers, and results from third-party audits.
The review timeline for Coinbase varies according to the project’s complexity and the submission’s completeness. Typically, due diligence for tokens takes around a week, with trading enabled within two weeks once approval is granted.
Generally, the complete timeline stays under 30 days from the inception of the review to listing, although it can vary based on multiple factors.
Tokens from supported networks like Ethereum, Base, Solana, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, and Avalanche can be processed more quickly than those from new or unsupported chains, which may need custom engineering from the ground up.
Coinbase’s Three Key Core Reviews
Every asset undergoes three crucial core reviews by Coinbase to safeguard customers and uphold market integrity.
The legal review determines if trading the token complies with relevant securities regulations across jurisdictions. Compliance and risk assessment reviews scrutinize token distribution and on-chain activities to spot potential financial crimes and consumer safety risks.
Technical security reviews are among the most rigorous evaluations, examining contract code, design, and operational risks to establish safe custody and listing capabilities.
For new blockchains, this review also assesses technical design, consensus mechanisms, network resilience, and governance frameworks.
Coinbase highlighted common barriers that can impede approvals, such as public comments that influence regulatory risks, excessive centralized control within the protocol’s structure, and incomplete applications lacking vital components like governance, tokenomics, or technical documentation.
In addition to core reviews, Coinbase evaluates market factors to prioritize and time listings, including trading volume, market cap, liquidity, number of holders, active wallets, total value locked, on-chain activity, community sentiment, and the team’s track record.
Approved assets are introduced to the market in phases, initially with transfer-only deposits to enhance liquidity. This is succeeded by an auction phase, gathering limit orders for a minimum of 10 minutes to determine opening prices through natural price discovery.