Coinbase Guide Clarifies New Token Listings Process
Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, has unveiled a comprehensive guide outlining the asset listing process for the exchange.
Overview
- CEO Armstrong discloses a 5-step process for asset listing aimed at enhancing transparency in crypto approvals
- Listings are based on merit, free of charge, and evaluated under legal, compliance, and security standards
- Approved tokens are introduced through deposits, auctions, and full trading activation
Armstrong shared on X that the guide was created to improve transparency after a surge of inquiries about the cryptocurrency approval process.
The guide makes it clear that listings are merit-based and free, with each asset being evaluated against uniform standards.
The Five Essential Steps for Coinbase Exchange Listings
The asset listing procedure consists of five key steps:
- Complete an online questionnaire.
- Coinbase assesses business considerations, including market demand, community engagement, and technical integration requirements.
- The asset undergoes evaluation by, at minimum, three core reviews: legal, compliance, and technical security.
- The Coinbase team often interacts with issuers through email and video calls.
- Finally, once the review is complete, approved assets are allowed to trade on the Coinbase Exchange.
Applications must include extensive documentation, such as white papers, team biographies, tokenomics, source code URLs, block explorers, and third-party audit results.
The review time frame for Coinbase varies based on the complexity of the project and the completeness of the submission. Due diligence for tokens typically takes about a week, with trading enabled within two weeks once approval is granted.
The overall timeline usually remains under 30 days from the start of review to listing, although it may vary based on several factors.
Tokens from supported networks like Ethereum, Base, Solana, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, and Avalanche can be processed more swiftly than those from new or unsupported chains, which may require custom engineering from the ground up.
Coinbase’s Three Essential Core Reviews
Every asset is subjected to three key core reviews by Coinbase to protect customers and maintain market integrity.
The legal review assesses whether trading the token aligns with securities regulations under applicable jurisdictions. Compliance and risk mitigation reviews examine token distribution and on-chain activities to identify potential financial crime and consumer safety issues.
Technical security reviews are among the most thorough assessments, evaluating contract code, design, and operational risks to determine safe custody and listing capabilities.
In the case of new blockchains, this review also examines technical design, consensus mechanisms, network resilience, and governance structures.
The exchange pointed out common obstacles that can hinder approvals, such as public statements that impact regulatory risks, excessive centralized control in the protocol’s structure, and incomplete applications missing key components like governance, tokenomics, or technical documentation.
In addition to core reviews, Coinbase considers market factors to determine listing priority and timing, including trading volume, market capitalization, liquidity, number of holders, active wallets, total value locked, on-chain activity, community sentiment, and the track record of the team.
Approved assets are rolled out to the market in phases, starting with transfer-only deposits to enhance liquidity. This is then followed by an auction phase, collecting limit orders for a minimum of 10 minutes to establish opening prices through natural price discovery.