- Coinbase said it struggles to evaluate one million tokens created weekly.
- TRUMP and MELANIA tokens spark criticism as grifts or worse.
- Vitalik Buterin warns of political corruption risks with politician memecoins.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has called for a radical overhaul of the exchange’s token listing process, citing the overwhelming pace of new token creation.
In a tweet, Armstrong revealed that approximately one million tokens are being created each week, making Coinbase’s current evaluation process unsustainable.
He suggested shifting from an allowlist to a blocklist approach, using customer reviews and automated scans of on-chain data to streamline token evaluation.
“This is a high-quality problem to have,” Armstrong wrote, “but evaluating each one by one is no longer feasible. Regulators need to understand that applying for approval for each one is totally infeasible at this point as well.”
However, Armstrong’s comments come as Coinbase faces criticism for its token policies.
Last week, the exchange listed TRUMP and MELANIA tokens under its “Experimental asset” label, prompting backlash over the perceived low quality of the assets.
Critics labelled the tokens as opportunistic grifts, with some suggesting they could serve more nefarious purposes like facilitating political bribery.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin warned that tokens tied to politicians could create pathways for covert funding, allowing individuals or foreign entities to influence political figures without public accountability.
Adding to the scrutiny, Tron founder Justin Sun criticised Coinbase for its lengthy review process.
Sun pointed out that Tron’s TRX asset, a top-10 cryptocurrency, has been under review for seven years despite significant milestones, including a pending TRX exchange-traded fund approval.
Kyle Baird is DL News’ Weekend Editor. Got a tip? Email at kbaird@dlnews.com.