Coinbase has become the first cryptocurrency exchange to list regulated tokens as securities among the assets listed on its platform, with the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Coinbase did not receive this authorization directly, but through the purchase of subsidiary companies that previously had the licenses.

According to Bloomberg , Coinbase received approval from the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to acquire three companies licensed in different financial areas, obtaining consequently a stock broker license (BD), registered investment adviser ( RIA) and alternative trading system (ATS) . A corporate movement that gives the exchange office based in California the possibility of operating with "blockchain-based values", as the company had planned since June of this year.

The companies acquired by Coinbase are Keystone Capital Corp, a financial services firm registered with FINRA; Venovate Marketplace Inc., a brokerage company that operates since 2009; and Digital Wealth LLC, an investment advisory firm in the technology sector. The purchase of these three companies had been mentioned by the exchange house between its plans weeks ago, this as a fundamental part of its objective to include new digital assets in its platform.

In this regard, Coinbase spokesman said that the next steps of the company after this approval is "to integrate technology to subsidiaries," because it is necessary to adjust the operation of the company to work according to legal provisions. An adaptation for which the company did not provide more detail, so it remains unknown when the supply of new products is planned .

In recent weeks, Coinbase has revealed different aspects of its plans for 2018. In fact, on July 13 it announced that it is exploring the incorporation of Stellar Lumens (XML), Zcash (ZEC), 0x (to its platform). ZRX), Cardano (ADA) and Basic Attention Token (BAT). This information led to increases between 10 and 28% in the price of these altcoins, while the rest of the market remained static.

It is important to note that Coinbase did not ensure that these cryptocurrencies would be included among those already available -Bitcoin, ether, litecoin and bitcoin cash-, since, according to the company itself, it is not decided whether the five altcoins are securities in all countries in the world. that Coinbase works. The conclusion in this regard by the spokesperson was that they probably adopt some types of transactions with these cryptocurrencies, but with geographical limitations for legal reasons.

COINBASE IS NOT THE ONLY

Coinbase's corporate move to become a digital exchange house that operates under SEC regulations is not exclusive to this company. Circle Internet Financial Ltd., one of Coinbase's competition companies, announced last month that it is also working on its brokerage license with the Stock Exchange to allow its users to buy and sell qualified tokens as securities.

It is important to bear in mind that this regulation has caused controversies in the ecosystem. The former director of the Commission on Trade in Futures on Merchandise of the United States, Gary Gensler, assured in an interview last April that XRP (Ripple) and Ether would be qualified as securities. The reason for this allegation is supported by the fact that both cryptoactives were issued based on an Initial Coin Offer (ICO); being therefore "shares" of a company and, consequently, Ethereum Foundation and Ripple Labs companies that issued and negotiated financial securities, in violation of US legal regulations.

However, the Securities and Exchange Commission has not ruled on the matter for the moment, and no US house of exchange has eliminated the ether, the second cryptocurrency of the ecosystem, from its lists. On the other hand, XRP has not been eliminated from the list of exchanges of the main exchange houses of the country.

This type of movement among the companies that make life in the ecosystem leaves to public light the intention of two of the largest foreign exchange houses in the United States: to join the regulatory standards to take advantage of new opportunities in the ecosystem.