At the beginning of March, there were a few guesses about a possible ripple listing on Coinbase. Even after a denial by the well-known crypto company, this rumor continues to spread on various channels. To provide basic answers, the company has revealed how to list new assets on Coinbase.
For ripple investors, the days between 3 and 6 March were an emotional roller coaster: Rumor has it that Coinbase now plans to support Ripple in addition to Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin. The price reacted promptly and rose by 22% within a few days.
When the company denied corresponding rumors, the price gain was canceled again. Nevertheless, various news sources have kept the rumor alive.
Coinbase has therefore recently pointed out and updated its policy of adding new cryptocurrencies. They explained what steps the company is taking.
The Digital Asset Framework - the Gretchenfrage of Coinbase
The first and central criterion for listing on Coinbase - or the company's own stock exchange GDAX - is the Digital Asset Framework. In summary, the following points are considered in this framework:
- Is the asset accessible to anyone and not controlled by a single party?
- Can the product be said to be of high quality and safety on the basis of the source code and the current system?
- Does the team's expertise match the demands of the project?
- Is a governance and a consensus finding process defined?
- Is the project scalable?
- Can GDAX offer the asset at all?
- Does the asset have high liquidity?
- Do you trade the asset on a larger scale?
- Is there a high demand for the asset or are there positive network effects?
- Are there any mechanisms that provide incentives to network protective behavior?
- If there was a token sale: did it expire according to best practices (security, fair token distribution, transparency, white paper, etc.)
These points break down the framework into sub-points. It is therefore an evaluation scheme with which one can look at a cryptocurrency from all sides similar to an expert's report. It is reminiscent of the guidelines of funding programs that clearly define the objectives and aspirations of the funding.
Furthermore disclaimer concerning listing of further assets
In the above-linked blog post, the Coinbase team, starting with the Digital Asset Framework, emphasizes that no listing of all major crypto currencies is planned. The asset must be in line with the framework - market capital is secondary to valuation.
In addition, the company again emphasizes that no listing of any digital assets is currently planned. While an internal review team continues to rate cryptocurrencies as outlined above, it has not proposed new ones to the Coinbase Executive Team.
What is still true for Airdrops and Hard Forks
The Digital Asset Framework is also the basis for deciding whether Coinbase customers should benefit from a Hard Fork or Airdrop. In addition, the company assesses whether these new assets threaten the safety of customers or Coinbase. Examples of exclusion criteria are the following examples:
- Vulnerabilities in the log
- unclear or missing roadmap
- irregular commits to the code repository
- Lack of transparency in the further development
- low liquidity
The Digital Asset Framework as a guideline for your own analysis
The above checklists, or the slightly more detailed ones of the Digital Asset Framework, can be the first to help you understand decisions made by the Coinbase team. Secondly, enthusiastic disciples of a cryptocurrency, before asking Coinbase for a listing, can work through that framework regarding their currency. In a proposal, they can show that the proposed asset complies with Coinbase guidelines.
The framework can also be a good basis for your own rating of cryptocurrency. The crypto-slides are full of the bon mot DYOR (or "Do your own Research"). Even if forum members like to use this as meaningless as "Little Tip: Google the time!", You can stand out from the crowd and really do a structured analysis.