What Coinbase listings say about crypto in the US

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If you need any more reassurance that working with crypto is tipped to get easier, look no further than Coinbase listings.

In fact, the rate of Coinbase listings has rapidly accelerated.

Over the past two years, until the election in November, the exchange had made 88 listing announcements specific to the US — an average of 3.8 listings per month.

Since Trump’s win around this time last month, Coinbase has made 16 such announcements — either for its flagship US exchange or specifically for the state of New York.

Of those new coins, seven are related to memecoins: WIF, PEPE and FLOKI were all listed on Coinbase in mid-November, while the former was opened to New York residents this week.

Those aren’t micro-cap memes from pump.fun. They are hugely popular established memecoins with vocal followings, which were often seen pestering Coinbase to list the tokens on X over the years.

Coinbase then added MOODENG on Monday — an actual pump.fun coin — capping off a pent-up meme rollout that felt like years in the making.

Prior to Trump’s win, Coinbase had only listed one memecoin in the past two years, BONK, in December 2023. The exchange then made BONK available in New York earlier this year, in May.

Coinbase and other exchanges have been historically slow to offer their full suite of coins to New York residents, on account of the Attorney General’s Office’s penchant for securities lawsuits. 

Other, more substantive coins have been given the Coinbase nod since the election. Helium’s MOBILE is now available in New York alongside DEGEN, ARB, SEI, AIOZ, 1INCH, EGLD, and SD. 

Still, Coinbase opting into memecoins to such a degree makes absolute sense for its bottom line. Memecoins bring volume which directly converts to trading fee revenue for Coinbase. 

The move, while potentially hindered by the continued potential of a disagreeable SEC, was probably overdue. But its actual impact on Coinbase’s own valuation may not convert so easily heading into a second Trump term.

Coinbase’s share price has tracked bitcoin’s price performance almost exactly over the past year and has been slightly underperforming against it in the past two weeks. 

If the market is indeed pricing in potential revenues from a memecoin supercycle powered by Coinbase, it’s not yet showing up. MOODENG, though, has more than doubled, so there’s that.

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