Coinbase Launches New Platform for Token Sales, Boosts Shares 4%

Bengaluru, India — Coinbase Global announced it will launch a new platform that allows individual investors to buy digital tokens before these tokens are listed on its exchange. The news resulted in a 4% increase in Coinbase’s shares during morning trading.

The platform, set to host about one token sale each month, will use an algorithm to determine how tokens are allocated to investors. Purchases can be made during a one-week window, allowing a broad range of participants to engage in the process.

“Token issuers coming to market today struggle to get their tokens into the hands of real users while building deep exchange liquidity. Coinbase is changing that,” the company stated in a blog post.

This launch marks the first substantial opportunity for U.S. investors to participate in public token sales since 2018. Initial coin offerings, once a popular fundraising method during the 2017 crypto boom, waned after regulatory concerns about investor protection surfaced.

Coinbase’s algorithm is designed to promote fair distribution among investors, prioritizing those who make lower requests and rewarding true supporters of projects. Users who sell tokens within the first 30 days post-listing may receive smaller allocations in future sales, aiming to benefit genuine users.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, the first blockchain project to utilize this new platform will be Monad, which plans to offer its token next week. Purchases on the platform will be made in USD Coin, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, issued by Circle Internet Group.

Coinbase is also planning future enhancements for the token sales platform, including the introduction of limit orders and increased allocations for targeted user bases.