Coinbase gains US regulatory approval to list coins deemed to be securities
Coinbase has gained the approval of US regulators to push ahead with acquisitions which could turn the platform into one of few federally-regulated trading posts for virtual currencies.
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The cryptocurrency platform says that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) have approved the purchase of Keystone Capital, Digital Wealth LLC, and Venovate Marketplace, according to Bloomberg.
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A company spokesperson told the publication that the acquisitions will allow Coinbase to offer security tokens and will also place the platform under federal regulators, rather than state authorities.
However, Coinbase must now tackle the integration of its new purchases, which includes making sure licenses are in place, investigating data protection, and analyzing customer handling, in order to meet regulatory standards.
On Friday, Coinbase announced the addition of a range of new assets to the platform, including Cardano (ADA), Basic Attention Token (BAT), Stellar Lumens (XLM), Zcash (ZEC), and 0x (ZRX).
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However, Coinbase said that these assets will require "additional exploratory work and we cannot guarantee they will be listed for trading," as they are technologically different from Ethereum (ETH).
Until the Coinbase team ascertain what is possible in terms of sales, trading, and wallet support, users should not assume these new options will be listed.
"Our listing process may result in some of these assets being listed solely for customers to buy and sell, without the ability to send or receive using a local wallet," Coinbase said. "We may also only enable certain ways to interact with these assets through our site, such as supporting only deposits and withdrawals from transparent Zcash addresses."
"Finally, some of these assets may be offered in other jurisdictions prior to being listed in the US," the company added.
In April, Coinbase acquired Earn.com. The makers of the paid email solution saw Earn.com co-founder Balaji Srinivasan join the company as its first chief technology officer (CTO).
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