Brian Armstrong is calling for some regulatory flexibility as his exchange faces a flood of new altcoins. On X, which used to be Twitter, he mentioned that about one million tokens are launching each week. Evaluating each one individually? That’s just not practical anymore.
Right now, Coinbase has a thorough listing process. Digital assets go through a rigorous vetting before they can be traded. Armstrong confirmed that a dedicated team evaluates these altcoins based on legal, compliance, and technical security standards.
But he’s looking to change things up. In the future, he wants all tokens to be allowed by default. If a project gets poor customer reviews or raises red flags in its on-chain data, then it would be blocked. He emphasized that requiring approval for each token is simply unfeasible at this point.
Not everyone in the crypto space agrees with him. Danny Scott, the CEO of Coin Corner, a UK-based Bitcoin-only exchange, questioned whether Coinbase might need a gambling license. He believes that Coinbase is eager to list any token without caring about quality. This could put customers at risk, especially since altcoins tend to drop in value compared to Bitcoin over time.
Scott even compared this situation to gambling. He said, “Choosing a meme token is now more like betting than investing.” He feels it’s easier to pick a winning horse at the racetrack than to guess which meme token will rise next.
Peter Schiff, a well-known crypto critic, also chimed in. He told Armstrong that the idea of “limited supply” is fading. The inflation rate of digital tokens is skyrocketing. Most of these tokens are very similar to Bitcoin, especially when it comes to having a capped supply.
The sheer number of tokens hitting the market has sparked concerns. Some experts worry that “altseason”—when smaller cryptocurrencies outperform Bitcoin—might not happen this time. On-chain analyst Ali Martinez pointed out that there are now over 36.4 million altcoins. Just a few years ago, during the bull run of late 2017 and early 2018, there were fewer than 3,000. The market dynamics have changed dramatically.
In other news, Bitcoin’s trading activity surged on Monday. Trading volume jumped by 222% to $55.3 billion. Arthur Hayes, the CIO of Maelstrom Fund, predicts a sharp correction. He thinks the price could drop to as low as $70,000 before potentially rising to $250,000 later this year. Currently, Bitcoin is trading just above $99,000, down 8.67% from its all-time high of around $108,000, according to CoinGecko.
Last year, the cryptocurrency sector scored big with approvals for spot Bitcoin ETFs and Ethereum-based counterparts in the U.S. But fund managers aren’t stopping there. Recently, they proposed new investment products that would track the prices of various cryptocurrencies, including Dogecoin, XRP, Solana, and even Donald Trump’s meme coin.
BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF might see a significant update soon. A recent filing with Nasdaq proposed a rule change that would allow in-kind BTC redemptions instead of just cash. This means that authorized participants, like large institutional investors, could redeem ETF shares for actual Bitcoin instead of selling it through a market maker and receiving cash.