CEO Brian Armstrong believes it could be a “huge unlock for crypto economy”
Coinbase, the digital currency exchange, headquartered in San Francisco, California, is developing a token crowdfunding platform for crypto startups launch their own tokens.
CEO Brian Armstrong confirmed the plans during a podcast interview in August with O’Shaughnessy Asset Management CEO Patrick O’Shaughnessy, with a transcript noting that the service could be called “Coinbase Launch”—although the name has not yet been finalise.
The platform will streamline clients’ token launches from custody to smart contract creation to governance to distribution.
Coinbase is also reportedly eyeing a tokenized capital raise. It is reportedly preparing for an initial public offering (perhaps using blockchain-based tech) in mid-2021.
Coinbase would build the platform to launch tokens, but it wouldn’t be hands-off like Kickstarter. The exchange would help with the step-by-step process of functionally executing on those plans.
Armstrong said the platform would be like a combination of startup toolkit Stripe Atlas and startup job/investment site AngelList. Armstrong believes the platform “could be a huge unlock for the crypto economy” and projected it could power “a thousand new startups”. Adding what is commonly known as an Initial Exchange Offering platform to its mix would likely beat out existing IEO platforms and attract new prospective token crowdfunders to Coinbase.
There is also no announcement as to when the Coinbase platform will launch.
Coinbase’s Asia Head of Institutional Sales, Kayvon Pirestani, was the first to comment on the potential for such a platform in September 2019, telling CoinDesk that it would be a “really interesting opportunity” and that the company was “carefully exploring” such plans.
Coinbase currently brokers exchanges of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, Tezos, and many others, with fiat currencies in approximately 32 countries, and bitcoin transactions and storage in 190 countries worldwide.
