 Brian Armstrong says Coinbase needs to ‘rethink’ its token listing process 
2025-01-26
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Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, has proposed rethinking the company’s asset listing process in response to the surge in token creation. 
In a Jan. 24 X post, Armstrong noted the challenges posed by the exponential growth of new tokens.
“We need to rethink our listing process at Coinbase, given there are ~1 million tokens a week being created now, and growing,” Armstrong wrote. He said that manually evaluating each token is no longer feasible and called for regulators to adopt a more pragmatic approach. 
“It needs to move from an allow list to a block list and utilize customer reviews and automated scans of onchain data to help customers sift through,” he added.
Coinbase’s current listing process involves a multi-step approach, including an initial review, due diligence, and regulatory compliance checks, as per its website. 
Backlash
Justin Sun, founder of Tron, took a jab at Coinbase’s listing policies, noting that Tron (TRX), one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap, has been under review for seven years without being listed. 
“This has nothing to do with TRX itself but rather reflects Coinbase's loss of the most basic fairness and industry judgment when it comes to new listings,” Sun said on X, responding to Armstrong’s tweet.
Sun levied allegations on Nov. 4 that Coinbase demanded $330 million in fees to list TRX. According to Sun, the fees included 500 million TRX tokens, worth $80 million at the time, and a $250 million Bitcoin deposit to be held in Coinbase Custody.
Meanwhile, Ansem, a pseudonymous crypto influencer, suggested that Coinbase hire someone with hands-on experience in the industry to streamline token evaluations. 
“They can tell you the 10 out of 1 million tokens that need to be listed as soon as possible. This is an easily fixable problem,” Ansem suggested.
A hybrid model
Armstrong also revealed Coinbase’s plans to deepen integration with decentralized exchanges (DEXs).
He envisions a future where customers “shouldn’t need to know or care whether the trade is happening on a DEX or CEX [centralized exchange].”
This comes amid hopes for friendlier crypto regulation in the US under President Donald Trump’s new administration. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, which concluded on Jan. 24, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong noted the administration’s impact on the crypto industry.
“Basically every conversation I had with major market leaders was focused on what the Trump Admin planned to do on crypto,” Armstrong said in a separate X post.