Last month, Coinbase acquired Echo, an angel investment platform founded by renowned crypto trader Jordan “Cobie” Fish, for approximately $375 million. Immediately following this, Coinbase launched its own public token sale platform last week, primarily targeting retail users in the United States. This series of moves clearly signals a strategic shift in Coinbase’s business direction. I spoke with Coinbase, competing platforms, venture capital firms, and founders to delve into the drivers behind this shift and the direction ahead.
Coinbase’s Timing: Why Now?
Coinbase’s moves raise an obvious question: Why now? The company recently told me it views the current Trump administration (Note: This should be the Biden administration; the original text may be incorrect) as one of the most crypto-friendly in U.S. history, suggesting the door for ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) may reopen—a door that has remained largely closed since the regulatory storm of 2017-18. The regulatory landscape has indeed shifted. In July, SEC Chair Paul Atkins stated he had directed staff to propose “applicable disclosure, exemption, and safe harbor” recommendations for ICOs, airdrops, and network rewards. This stands in stark contrast to the SEC’s post-2017 approach, which largely classified ICOs as unregistered securities and forced many projects to shut down or settle.
Other signals also point to growing regulatory clarity. Scott Keto, President of CoinList, referenced the SEC’s recent “no-action letter” for DoubleZero, which clarified that its 2Z token is not a security—a development he described as unprecedented. DoubleZero recently conducted a public sale on CoinList, marking the platform’s first offering to U.S. accredited investors since 2019. Keto added that new legislation advancing in Congress—including the Clarity Act on crypto market structures—is bolstering confidence for companies like Coinbase, particularly regarding U.S. retail market access. Echo previously served only U.S. accredited investors, which may also explain Coinbase’s move to launch a retail platform.
Keto stated this regulatory shift benefits all token sale platforms, not just Coinbase. When asked if CoinList would allow U.S. retail participation, he emphasized the ultimate decision rests with issuers: “During the (former SEC Chair Gary Gensler) era, it wasn’t that we couldn’t offer token sales to Americans (even accredited investors)—it was that projects perceived the risk as too high.” He added, “If a project wants to offer its tokens to U.S. retail users, we can support that.”
Competitors’ Diverse Strategies
Other rival platforms have identified similar regulatory opportunities but pursued different paths. Legion co-founder Matt O’Connor stated the platform also plans to serve the U.S. retail market, asserting that under the updated policy framework, “securities laws shouldn’t apply to most tokens.” In contrast, BuidlPad founder Erick Zhang stated he still has no plans to target U.S. users.
However, regulatory factors alone aren’t driving this shift. Scott Shapiro, head of Coinbase’s trading division, emphasized their goal is to support projects “at every stage of their lifecycle”—from Echo Group’s early-stage funding, to Echo Sonar’s crypto-native public sale, to broad distribution among Coinbase’s global retail users. Shapiro envisions a full-stack, founder-friendly pathway from project inception to liquidity realization, prioritizing not just rapid sales but also “the long-term health of the project.”
Vertical Integration and Competitive Advantage
Framework Ventures Partner Brandon Potts noted that Coinbase is simply attempting to control more of the user journey, as users increasingly seek earlier involvement while issuers look for compliant, more trustworthy platforms. Robot Ventures Partner Anirudh Pai termed this vertical integration: if Coinbase aims to dominate centralized trading and on-chain economics through Base, it needs a direct token distribution channel.
Some founders interpret this shift through a competitive lens. Francesco Renzi, Co-founder and CEO of Superfluid, noted that token launches remain among the highest-volume moments for any exchange, and Coinbase’s conservative first-day listing strategy means it “misses out” on this market. Lluis Bardet Alvarez, Co-founder of idOS, pointed out that centralized exchanges face an “innovator’s dilemma” as decentralized exchange volumes rise and on-chain fees decline. He remarked, “Coinbase is exploring new crypto products that won’t directly cannibalize its core offering (the centralized exchange) while attracting users who lean toward decentralization.”
What Do Coinbase’s Moves Mean for Competitors?
Most rivals view Coinbase’s acquisition of Echo and launch of a public token sale platform as both an endorsement and a competitive challenge. Scott Keto, President of CoinList, stated this demonstrates the regulatory environment has finally shifted enough for major platforms to re-enter the U.S. token issuance space—an area many platforms avoided for years. He added that CoinList is currently preparing a more decentralized sales mechanism to offer projects alternatives beyond centralized platforms.
“We’re moving in another direction because I believe that’s what projects and users ultimately care about,” Keto said. “Projects want users to stay on their own chains and within their applications. CoinList is committed and ready to integrate these networks. We’re about to finalize some similar partnerships.”
Matt O’Connor, co-founder of Legion, noted that while Coinbase’s move introduces competition, it doesn’t squeeze out other platforms. He explained that Legion positions itself more as an ICO underwriter than merely a distribution channel—working closely with project teams to focus on structural design, compliance, and marketing strategies. “Tokenization is a powerful technology whose potential market extends far beyond a few altcoins, bringing all assets and investment opportunities on-chain,” he said. “This is redefining the IPO. That’s why we call Legion the first ICO underwriter.”
Erick Zhang, founder of BuidlPad, stated his platform will continue focusing on non-U.S. markets and adopt a “highly curated and highly engaged” model, spending months with projects to cultivate communities and execute pre-launch marketing campaigns. He explained, “This means we can’t launch tokens frequently—but it’s the path we’ve chosen.”
Most people I spoke with believe Coinbase may secure partnerships with some premium projects, but not all. They noted platforms offering more “degen” (high-risk, highly speculative) issuance mechanisms, looser compliance requirements, or founder-friendly terms will still carve out a niche for strong projects. Anirudh Pai, a partner at Robot Ventures, said, “Some platforms may build their brand around memecoins and higher-risk, more speculative tokens.”
Can Coinbase spearhead a new wave of ICOs?
Coinbase aims to conduct one token sale per month, though Scott Shapiro, head of its trading division, emphasized this isn’t a “hard rule”—quality takes precedence over quantity. Despite a slower pace of high-quality launches this year, many anticipate significant growth next year as teams that previously delayed their launches move forward.
Brandon Potts, Partner at Framework Ventures, noted: “There’s a backlog of high-quality projects. Their delays stem not from lack of confidence, but from limited and unstable issuance options.”
Others anticipate increased market activity with Coinbase’s entry—though not on the scale of 2017’s ICO frenzy. Teams will leverage clearer regulations and the reopening of the U.S. retail market to drive growth. Legion co-founder Matt O’Connor remarked: “Following Coinbase’s announcement, we’ve seen increased outreach from top-tier projects and institutional partners. The ICO momentum is returning, but it has evolved from the 2017 model into a more sustainable and resilient form.”
Vinayak Kurup, Head of Research and Investor at EV3 Ventures, concurred: “As an industry, we’ve made significant strides since the early ICO era.” He added that the next phase will be driven by fundamentals rather than hype. With institutional capital gradually entering the blockchain space, cryptocurrency is being taken more seriously as an asset class. “The era of purely speculative markets, I believe, is behind us,” he remarked.
