Stellar (XLM), Coinbase–As reported by EWN yesterday, Coinbase made breaking headlines with the announcement of an updated policy geared towards publishing more assets on the platform, at least in a timely manner compared to the historically slow rate of addition.
In a tweet and accompanying blog post detailing the new policy, Coinbase reiterated that it has listened to the common refrain of customers in wanting more digital assets to come to the exchange, and has reconciled the process of addition in a way that will be compliant with local laws while maintaining the continuity of the platform,
“Today we’re announcing a new listing process that will allow us to rapidly add most digital assets that meets our standards and are compliant with local law, while providing our customers with the tools to discover, evaluate, trade, and use digital assets.”
Today we’re announcing a new listing process that will allow us to rapidly add most digital assets that meets our standards and are compliant with local law, while providing our customers with the tools to discover, evaluate, trade, and use digital assets: https://t.co/6AteNMOnYr
— Coinbase (@coinbase) September 25, 2018
Speaking with CNBC’s Fast Money, VP and General Manager of Coinbase Dan Romero explained that his company is making efforts to keep up with the rapidly expanding industry of cryptocurrency, which means moving beyond having a limited selection of top market coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin,
Ultimately, crypto is a global phenomenon. You have software developers and entrepreneurs around the world building products on top of crypto, and it’s unlocking a lot of use cases, particularly in emerging markets. I think we need to shift as a company to a more global perspective.
In all, this could be big news for Stellar and the XLM cryptocurrency. Stellar was one of five cryptocurrencies tabbed by Coinbase as a potential addition to the exchange in a press release from July. While Cardano also makes for a strong contender, Stellar has been the front-running favorite for being added the platform first, given the market capitalization of the currency in addition to its partnership with major names such as IBM.
While yesterday’s news out of Coinbase makes no mention of XLM or the other four currencies that were referenced to be under review for addition, the expediting process of adding new currencies could mean Stellar is being put on a fast-track for listing. In addition, the press release from yesterday specifically states that Coinbase is looking to add new currencies for customers to “trade” and “use,” meaning that their intention goes beyond the current “market watch” feature employed on the website. Likely, the release is also making reference to the idea that new cryptocurrencies will not be offered in all regions serviced by Coinbase at the same time–a point that was made salient in July’s exploration in Stellar, Cardano and several other coins.
To be clear, Coinbase has yet to hint or even give evidence for the addition of XLM–or any of the original five cryptocurrencies detailed in the report. However, XLM does possess a number of critical features that make the coin attractive to the customer base of Coinbase, such as the substantial deviation in pricing away from the tens, hundreds and thousands of dollars that the current selection of coins is valued in. At $0.25 per coin as of writing, XLM could be a psychologically attractive token for the more casual cryptocurrency investor that has yet to venture outside Coinbase’s user-friendly platform.
