Coinbase, the token explorer. The popular American cryptocurrency exchange says it is “exploring the addition” of five new crypto-tokens—Cardano, the Basic Attention Token, Stellar Lumens, Zcash, and 0x—and “will be working with local banks and regulators to add them in as many jurisdictions as possible.” Unlike the announcement last month that Coinbase it will soon add support for Ethereum Classic, there is no guarantee here that it will actually list these coins, which it notes “will require additional exploratory work.” Some may only be available for customers to buy and sell, not trade, and “we may only enable certain ways to interact with these assets through our site,” the company says (anonymous Zcash transactions might not be supported, for example). Finally, it may list coins in other countries before listing them in the US.
Interesting, but also curious. How did Coinbase settle on these five coins—especially Cardano, which hasn’t launched yet? And if it has to do so much additional exploring, why tell us now, given the effect that this kind of news can have on coin prices? Perhaps Coinbase, the target of a recent class action lawsuit claiming the company illegally tipped off insiders before listing Bitcoin Cash, is trying to avoid another legal headache. | 
