Coinbase 0x, BAT, Zcash Listing Met With Debate, Generally Optimistic

Coinbase has recently announced that it was “exploring” the addition of five altcoins, which led to widespread speculation and discussion about the topic.

CNBC Breaks Down The Most Likely Additions To Coinbase

Coinbase’s announcement regarding the five altcoins quickly hit headlines in the ‘cryptosphere’, with CNBC taking a unique stance on the statement. Brian Kelly, CNBC’s in-house crypto expert and “baller”, recently made an appearance on the ‘Fast Money’ segment to give his opinions on each of the five cryptocurrencies singled out by the Coinbase statement.

'@Coinbase just announced they could add five new coins to their platform. @BKBrianKelly tells us which ones he thinks they will $ADA $BAT $XLM $ZEC $ZRX pic.twitter.com/5YrQCoXBeM

— CNBC's Fast Money (@CNBCFastMoney) July 13, 2018

Firstly, Kelly stated that Cardano tokens will most likely be seen as a non-security in the eyes of the Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC), pointing out Cardano’s active roadmap and its similarity to Ethereum’s status as a platform for other crypto assets.

Next, The CNBC analyst brought attention to 0x, a crypto that was long rumored to make an appearance on the Coinbase crypto roster. He stated:

0x (Zero X).. this is one of the most interesting ones. That is a decentralizd exchange protcol (that is) up and running. In fact, I believe that Coinbase announced a bulletin board exchange, wasn’t really an exchange. But they use 0x technology, so that’s why that one is on the list.

Speculation about the 0x addition has been rife, as Coinbase has announced support for ERC-20 tokens just a few months back while acquiring a decentralized platform based off 0x technology.

The CNBC analyst’s thoughts about Basic Attention Token or Stellar were sparse, not making it clear whether those additions were likely or not.

Last but not least, Kelly spoke on the ZCash cryptocurrency, which is a privacy-centric coin that can conceal wallet and transaction balances. The Winklevoss twins-run exchange, Gemini, announced support for unshielded ZCash trading in May, leading the community to believe that Coinbase’s support for ZCash will follow.

When queried about the price surge seen with these cryptocurrencies, BK that the cryptocurrencies integrated by Coinbase have historically seen bullish movements and that the five mentioned on Friday could gain momentum moving into the weekend. He stated:

Once these things (cryptocurrencies) get going. Once you get that momentum, they tend to go higher… It wouldn’t surprise me to see these things up 20, 30, 40 percent over the weekend.

Coinbase recently announced plans to list SEC-regulated crypto securities, but made it clear that this process would require some time and collaboration with regulatory bodies. Due to the uncertainty around the security status of Ripple, the CNBC hosts noted that it would be unlikely for Coinbase consumers to see XRP tokens on the platform any time soon.

BK also mentioned that there are pending lawsuits going on against the Ripple company, specifically regarding XRP’s status as a security.

CNBC Fast Money host, Melissa Lee, pointed out that the addition of new assets into the Coinbase ecosystem would require certain programs and services on the platform to forcefully push new altcoins down the throats of investors. For example, the addition of ZCash would require Coinbase Index Fund investors to indirectly ‘buy’ the privacy cryptocurrency, as the fund compiles all Coinbase-supported cryptos into one tradeable asset.

Kelly agreed with what Lee had to say, adding:

It’s almost like the ETF effect that potentially some of these coins might get added to their (Coinbase’s) index product and they (investors) have to buy in. There could be some follow-on buying here.

Kraken Jokingly Criticizes Coinbase’s Announcement 

Kraken, another American exchange, recently issued a Tweet poking fun at the Coinbase announcement, specifically targeting the “exploring” segment of the exchange’s statement.

Exciting and important revelation for the community today. Kraken has been contemplating the exploration of maybe adding over 1600 new coins, pending the outcome of our highly sophisticated review process. For a glimpse of the possibilities: https://t.co/dmfd5yr48s

— Kraken Exchange (@krakenfx) July 14, 2018

The exchange jokingly stated that they would be “contemplation the exploration of maybe adding” all of the cryptocurrencies listed on CoinMarketCap, a whole 1600 crypto assets. This joke was made in an attempt to bring attention to the fact that Coinbase may not add some, if not any, of the coins mentioned, as regulatory and technical constraints may make it difficult for a seamless integration.

As reported by NewsBTC yesterday, Coinbase did not give a clear timeline for the addition of potential integration of these five crypto assets, but noted that they will be updating the public through Medium and Twitter as the situation unravels.

Featured Image from Shutterstock

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