Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says there are 1 million new cryptocurrencies created every week
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says there are 1 million new cryptocurrencies created every week · Business Insider

In This Article:

  • Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said 1 million new tokens are created weekly.

  • He said regulators need to know that it's not "feasible" to evaluate each one for listing.

  • Armstrong suggested a shift to a "block list" for crypto listings to streamline the process.

The CEO of Coinbase says that a million new crypto coins are created every week, and it's becoming hard to evaluate them all.

Coinbase is a popular cryptocurrency trading platform that has allowed users to trade cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and dogecoin since 2012. The company has seen enormous growth since going public in 2022 and is now worth $74 billion.

Coinbase, like all cryptocurrency exchanges, uses an application process for new currency listings that evaluates the coin based on the company's own digital-asset framework.

"High-quality problem to have, but evaluating each one by one is no longer feasible," Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wrote in a post on X on Sunday. "And regulators need to understand that applying for approval for each one is totally infeasible at this point as well (they can't do 1m a week)."

Coinbase and other leading crypto companies have urged the federal government to clarify cryptocurrency regulations to ensure they can stay compliant.

The industry is optimistic, however, with the arrival of President Donald Trump, who has made promoting crypto a central part of his agenda. Trump even launched his own meme coin shortly before his inauguration. His wife, Melania Trump, quickly followed suit.

The number of circulating meme coins has risen in recent years. These are cryptocurrencies that are sometimes based on an internet meme or the result of a joke but are always designed to go viral in the hope of increasing their value.

Anyone can create a meme coin online. If it does go viral, it could earn the creator, who's often the largest investor, a windfall. Influencers have caught on and now often leverage their followings to capitalize.

Haliey Welch, known to most online as the "Hawk Tuah Girl," made headlines in December after she launched her own meme coin, $hawk. The coin's total market value shot up to almost $500 million before it collapsed after just hours. Welch told Fortune at the time that the coin wasn't meant to be a "cash grab." In a post on X, Welch said her team didn't sell any coins.

Armstrong said it was time to "rethink" the listing process at Coinbase, advocating for regulation of the crypto listing process to move from an "add list" to a "block list" that utilizes customer reviews and automated scans of blockchain data to help with the process.