Why Reputable Project Teams List Their Tokens First On U.S.-Based Crypto Exchanges

Check out Around the Block: Episode 41 for a lively discussion about the importance of new token listings and if the United States is losing the battle for crypto innovation. 

Ethereum. Polygon. Aave. Optimism. Near.

These are just a few of crypto’s most reputable projects. One thing they have in common? Their tokens are all listed on Coinbase. And there are many others, including those that have chosen Coinbase as the first place to list their tokens — like Uniswap, Compound, and The Graph.

Coinbase is the Most Trusted Crypto Exchange

For over 10 years, Coinbase focused on becoming the most secure and compliant crypto exchange in the world. Today, as a public company headquartered in the United States and traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market, Coinbase is trusted by 108 million retail and institutional customers who buy, sell and trade over 230 tokens reviewed by our team for safety and legitimacy. And today, we do this in more than 100 countries.

Our reputation as the most secure and easiest-to-use exchange has earned us the trust of iconic corporations in industries that span from banking and insurance to sports and entertainment. It’s also why leading crypto projects like Uniswap and ENS Domains choose to list their tokens on Coinbase while leveraging institutional-grade solutions we also offer, such as custody, staking, and prime services.

However, prior to the recent collapse of FTX, several project teams reached out to share concerns they had with listing on U.S-based exchanges like Coinbase. They were told that it’s safer to work with other exchanges run by operators who prefer to do things their own ways instead of working with lawmakers and regulators who help keep consumers safe.

This simply is not true.

While we understand there are many different platforms for buying and selling tokens, crypto exchanges based in the United States offer the safest, smoothest, and most secure environments for project teams and customers to participate in the crypto economy. 

Below are three reasons why we believe this to be true — and why we’re now seeing more project teams choose to list on Coinbase over other exchanges, many of which were recently created by clever but inexperienced opportunists.

Safety

Project teams choose to list on Coinbase because they value the world-class safety and security of our platform. They also know Coinbase would never do unethical things like move customer deposits without permission. 

As a regulated and publicly traded exchange, we’re required to hold 100% of funds that belong to our users. In fact, every quarter we review our financial records with independent board members and auditors, and share them with the public. We have nothing to hide.

We don’t do market making. We don’t do proprietary trading. We simply focus on protecting our customers and their assets from bad or inexperienced actors who intentionally or unintentionally engage in harmful behavior. 

Support

Coinbase’s listing requirements can be rigorous and demanding. This is why we hire the best talent to help project teams navigate the listing process, and why we even support projects already listed on Coinbase by helping them remain compliant with all rules and regulations.

Getting listed on a crypto exchange is an important milestone for many project teams, but not a difficult one to hit at other exchanges that don’t prioritize trust as much as we do. 

That’s why reputable crypto projects want their tokens listed on reputable crypto platforms — they know U.S.-based exchanges like Coinbase care the most about protecting consumers with the right types of policies, and that we have the best relationships with regulators around the world.

Scale 

Coinbase also offers the deepest liquidity pool of any regulated spot exchange. The strong relationships we have with all leading market makers serve 108 million verified users in more than 100 countries. 

Coinbase also offers programs that help project teams share their story with large audiences, like the millions of users who are newer to crypto and depend on Coinbase to learn more about the projects we list. Protocol foundations, for example, have relied on our Earn product to reward Coinbase users with tokens for learning more about what they do, while decentralized applications are taking advantage of our learning rewards programs that incentivize Coinbase users to complete on-chain tasks like swapping on a DEX, minting an NFT, or playing a web3 game.  

Our learn-and-earn programs can also help achieve decentralized token ownership. How? By providing project teams an opportunity to grant tokens to millions of verified Coinbase users all around the world who choose to learn about their projects, join the communities that power them, and experience the technology that makes everything possible. (We’ll write more about how we can help project teams with decentralization in a subsequent blog.)

We Want To Make Crypto Safer For Everyone, Everywhere

From the very beginning, Coinbase decided to become the most trusted company in crypto. We determined that working with regulators — instead of hiding from them — is the best way to build the products and solutions we need to make the crypto economy a safer place for everyone, anywhere in the world.

It’s also helpful to remember that Coinbase does not list securities, which unlike the tokens we do list, fall under the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Our Chief Legal Officer recently discussed this in a blog:

“Coinbase has a rigorous process to analyze and review each digital asset before making it available on our exchange — a process that the SEC itself has reviewed. This process includes an analysis of whether the asset could be considered to be a security, and also considers regulatory compliance and information security aspects of the asset. To be explicit, the majority of assets that we review are not ultimately listed on Coinbase.” 

We’re Here To Help

If you’re working on a project and have questions or concerns about listing on Coinbase, please reach out to us. We have highly experienced professionals who are ready to help you understand what it takes to get a token listed on our exchange, and work with your team through every step of the process.

We even continue helping project teams after a successful token listing: In the unexpected event a regulatory agency were to request information about how we determined a token was not a security, we’ll be here to help — as you’ve seen with our support of Tornado Cash litigation and the Crypto Action Network, Coinbase is committed to helping push the crypto economy forward in the safest, easiest, and most inclusive ways.