#coinbase

Coinbase and Circle, five years after jointly launching USDC, are evolving their partnership. Coinbase is acquiring an equity stake in Circle, emphasizing their shared vision for the financial future. To further its reach, USDC will launch on six new blockchains between September and October, expanding its multi-chain presence to 15. With clearer global stablecoin regulations, Circle will assume all governance, including smart contract management. The Centre Consortium, initially governing USDC, will dissolve.

Base, engineered on OP Stack as a second layer network, has managed to surpass Arbitrum and Optimism in the number of daily transactions this week. Data from The Block highlighted that on August 15, Base's moving average reached 610,000 transactions, while the counts for Arbitrum and Optimism stood at 576,000 and 597,000, respectively. Although Optimism currently holds a slight lead, overall, the networks are closely competing.

Coinbase has obtained regulatory approval from the National Futures Association (NFA), a CFTC-designated self-regulatory organization. This approval allows Coinbase to function as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) and provide eligible US customers with access to crypto futures through its platforms. With this approval, Coinbase becomes the first crypto-native platform to offer a combined solution featuring traditional spot crypto trading and regulated, leveraged crypto futures for their US verified customers.

Jesse Pollak, Coinbase protocols lead, has clarified the "permissionless" nature of Coinbase’s Layer 2 blockchain, Base, on X (formerly Twitter). Responding to Gnosis founder Martin Köppelmann's concerns about Base’s centralization, Pollak emphasized that Coinbase doesn't have unilateral control over contracts or the ability to freeze funds on the network. Despite being the sole operator of Base's sequencer, Pollak insists that the platform aims to be open, permissionless, and decentralized.

Amid the unresolved dispute between Coinbase and the SEC, a number of esteemed legal academics have weighed in, penning a court statement in support of the cryptocurrency exchange. Their stance is clear: an asset should only be deemed an investment contract if it promises profits, earnings, or assets from investments. Scholars assert that the court must strictly follow this legal definition, otherwise, it may jeopardize belief in existing securities laws.

The TVL of Coinbase's blockchain has surged to $146 million following its mainnet launch, surpassing StarkNet's TVL of $112 million. What's particularly striking is that roughly 87% of Base's TVL is held in ETH. However, the network's throughput still has room for improvement, with its TPS standing at roughly 5.81. For comparison, here are the TPS figures of other L2 solutions: Optimism — 6.88 Arbitrum One — 7.26 zkSync Er — 10.72

Both Coinbase and the SEC have denied reports claiming that the regulator requested the exchange to halt trading in all cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin. A Coinbase spokesperson has clarified to Blockworks that the supposed recommendation was an inaccurate representation of the facts. The interview published by the Financial Times earlier lacks important context regarding the conversations between Coinbase and the SEC.

Social app friend.tech has recorded protocol fees amounting to more than $1.42 million within the past 24 hours, positioning it among the top three crypto projects in terms of user-paid fees. It now stands as the third-highest project for user-paid fees, following Ethereum and Lido Finance, according to data from DeFiLlama. Built on Coinbase’s Base Layer 2 chain, friend.tech is a social app that integrates with X (Twitter). It allows users to trade tokenized shares linked to each other’s profiles. Shareholders enjoy exclusive content access and private chat rooms in X.

Between mid-July and Base’s public introduction in August, more than 500 scam tokens, like BASEPEPE (BPEPE) and Baby Yoda (YODA), were deployed on the blockchain, as reported by Solidus Labs, Around 300 of these tokens enabled their creators to generate an unlimited number of coins, unbeknownst to Base users, significantly impacting the tokens’ values. Moreover, about 60 tokens prevented buyers from reselling them on exchanges. The scam tokens collectively generated approximately $3.7 million in trading volume and yielded around $2 million in profits, according to Solidus.

This initiative aimed at countering anti-crypto legislation by mobilizing the community. Coinbase’s long-term plan is focused on cultivating a grassroots movement and building an engaged community that advocates for positive legal changes and crypto-friendly regulations. This initiative marks the nation’s first ever independent on-chain advocacy organization, driven by and for crypto enthusiasts. As of now, the initiative boasts 54 161 supporters on its webpage.

Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange, has joined forces with Peoples Trust Company. This collaboration facilitates access to the Interac e-Transfers system, streamlining deposit and withdrawal processes for its Canadian user base. What's more, they're gifting users a one-month free gateway into the Coinbase One subscription. This means no trade-related fees, amplified staking profits, and swift client support. "Canada is well positioned to be a global leader in the cryptoeconomy thanks to the high levels of crypto awareness, a passionate local tech ecosystem, and the progress towards a strong regulatory framework," voiced Nana Murugesan, the International Development VP at Coinbase.

During its second-quarter 2023 earnings call on August 3, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, expressed confidence that the exchange would win the court case, stating, “We do think we can win. We expect to win.” In terms of their financial performance: Coinbase reported a net loss of $97 million on $708 million in revenue for the second quarter of 2023. Trading volume fell by 37%, and operating expenses were down nearly 50% year over year, partly due to a 30% reduction in headcount.

According to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, the SEC requested the exchange to halt trading in all cryptocurrencies except bitcoin before filing a lawsuit against the platform in June. “We really didn’t have a choice at that point. Delisting every asset other than bitcoin, which, by the way, is not what the law says, would have essentially meant the end of the crypto industry in the US,” said Armstrong.