As of today, Coinbase has 139 tradable assets. The exchange has added up to 83 assets to its trading list in 2021, almost twice the number of assets it has accumulated in the eight years since its establishment.

Is this rapid expansion a simple grab for cash? Are these little-known tokens and coins securities? Is this irresponsible or too ambitious? What does this rapid expansion of Coinbase assets mean?

Grab money?

I think the answer to the first question is to emphasize “No!” Coinbase makes a lot of money on transaction fees, but its token list expansion has nothing to do with money.Coin Bank Start There was a small booth at the conference, “I just wanted to make what the customer wanted”, promoting T-shirts and hosted Bitcoin (Bitcoin) wallet. Now, Coinbase is the second largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.

It’s a common story for entrepreneurs to build something, find success, sell and move on, but the founder and CEO of Coinbase Brian Armstrong I worked at that small booth eight years ago, and I still work at Coinbase today. The exchange is loyal to its – and Armstrong’s – core values: economic freedom, property rights, and a more effective global exchange system. In my opinion, it just builds what customers want.

As early as June of this year, Armstrong Post A series of tweets indicate that Coinbase has changed its method of determining which assets are listed. All in all, Coinbase has shifted from a performance-based approach that relies on internal standards to a pragmatic approach based on externalities. This new method allows the market to decide which assets are the most valuable—and this should be. Reminder: Do your own research, even if it is a Coinbase list.

related: The responsibilities behind the listing of crypto lenders’ assets

Securities?

Coinbase recognizes and accepts its leadership role in guiding new regulations that benefit the new economy. The exchange does seem to be aware of its leadership role in the crypto space and is working hard on compliance. Therefore, it does not make sense for Coinbase to list a series of assets that may irritate regulators (in the United States, “uncertified” investors are prohibited from investing in early-stage projects).

Although the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission treat Stablecoins are securities, and the listing procession of Coinbase continues almost every week. It is very likely that assets that the SEC considers to be securities have been added to Coinbase’s trading pairs. However, the current barriers that exist in the name of “investor protection” may eventually be broken. Coinbase’s aggressive listing activities are consistent with the economic freedom, strong property rights and core values ??it supports, and may even hint at private discussions of undisclosed policies.

As Coinbase Chief Compliance Officer Melissa Strait said, tip go out:

“We have always believed that for cryptocurrency to gain the legitimacy required for mainstream adoption, compliance cannot be an afterthought-it must be at the core of how we operate.”

She also added: “We firmly believe that in order for cryptocurrency to gain wide acceptance, we must establish a constructive relationship with the regulators and institutions responsible for overseeing the crypto ecosystem.”

Almost all assets listed this year are ERC-20 token On the Ethereum network. why? Because they will be considered “enough decentralized”.This sentence is taken from a speech by William Hinman (former director of the Corporate Finance Department of the US Securities and Exchange Commission) production June 2018. As long as assets are decentralized like Ether on the day of the speech, they are not considered securities informally and temporarily. Thank you, Xinman!

related: Prevent adoption?Balancing encryption security and innovation

Irresponsible or too ambitious?

If I observe one thing while researching this topic, it is that Coinbase is very organized and process driven. Considering its success, I think this should be obvious. The Coinbase team understands the legal environment of exchange operations and has established a decision-making system Designed To keep up with the pace of this fast-growing industry. Armstrong himself stated that he hopes to attract 1 billion customers. Now this is ambitious! But is it too much? If you believe in a free and open financial system that is not controlled by any central participant, you will not.

Coinbase claims to be “agnostic” to listed tokens. In other words, Coinbase will not make any judgments about its listed projects, but will reward those builders who check all the boxes of its listed criteria. It is interesting to see the portfolio of projects incorporating it into the Coinbase platform. After all, the listing of Coinbase is like entering a major league.

What should we do now?

Coinbase listed 16 DeFi projects in 2021. It is not shocking that decentralized finance occupies the top of the list. The first-tier projects ranked second with 12-this is not surprising, because everyone wants to be the next Ethereum. In third place are eight decentralized exchange tokens, and tied for fourth place are stable coins and NFT games, each with seven projects. Ranked fifth is the second-tier Ethereum project.

Coinbase really stepped on the accelerator this year. It can mean any number of things, depending on who you are asking. For me, this is a very optimistic sign for the entire industry. Coinbase is providing customers with what they want: more choices and more opportunities to find undervalued gems. It is up to everyone to do their own due diligence. Some people call it the most “user-friendly” platform that now provides access to a considerable number of assets. The freedom to choose is a responsibility-choose wisely, or you may find that the SEC will find it necessary to make a choice for you.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading action involves risks, and readers should research on their own when making a decision.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are only those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.