BASE chain likely to issue tokens in the future, Coinbase CLO Paul Grewal waits for regulatory clarity

• BASE chain is likely to issue tokens in the future, according to Coinbase CLO. 
• Paul Grewal said that the exchange platform is not focused on the economics and tokenization of BASE. 
• Crypto market participants have anticipated a BASE token release since the mainnet launch of the Layer 2 chain in August.

BASE, an Ethereum Layer 2 chain developed by Coinbase, has not completely ruled out the possibility of issuing tokens in the future. Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, told Decrypt in an interview that tokens may be feasible at some point in the future.

This is a significant development for market participants after airdrops and token issuance by most Layer 2 protocols, including Arbitrum and Optimism in the past year. Airdrop farming has emerged as a reliable passive income opportunity for traders. The community has awaited a BASE token launch since mainnet release on August 9.

Also read: Arbitrum receives 2.5 million ARB funding request from Wormhole foundation

BASE tokens could be a reality, Coinbase has not completely ruled it out

Paul Grewal told Decrypt in an interview on Thursday that the exchange platform may issue BASE tokens at some point in the future. Currently, Coinbase is not paying much attention to the economics and tokenization of the protocol. There are other pressing concerns for the exchange like regulatory clarity.

Grewal explained that the main objective of BASE launch was to put the technology out there for developers and participants to use, and tokenization took a backseat. A primary driver for the exchange was aiding the development of use cases and applications to draw the next 50 million users to crypto. 

The legal officer said that regulatory clarity and certainty is important for protocols to have the full functionality to provide incentives like tokenization for users. The executive did not share a definitive timeline for a BASE token launch during the interview, however.

The Coinbase CLO shed light on how the Securities & Exchange Commission’s (SEC) stance on crypto has discouraged innovation. He said clarity in regulation is one of the major barriers for tokenization of protocols, such as BASE.

Coinbase recently summoned the community to ask for regulatory clarity in crypto through organized effort. Grewal said that “Stand with crypto,” is a movement orchestrated to call the 50 million Americans who are associated with cryptocurrencies in one form or another to join Coinbase in its cause for clear regulations on crypto.

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