Coinbase hit with $300M token listing allegations by Sun and Cronje

Some of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges allegedly ask for up to hundreds of millions of dollars for new token listings.

According to Tron founder Justin Sun, Coinbase allegedly asked for $330 million in total fees to list Tron (TRX). Sun posted on X on Nov. 4 that while Binance did not charge any fee, Coinbase requested 500 million TRX tokens (valued at around $80 million) and a $250 million Bitcoin deposit to be held in Coinbase Custody.

While Sun’s comments lack evidence, they come as a surprising development, considering that Coinbase claims to charge no fees for listing new cryptocurrencies.

“Asset listings on Coinbase are free,” Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong wrote in a Nov. 2 X post.

Binance and Coinbase are among the world’s most popular centralized crypto exchanges (CEXs). Binance is the world’s largest crypto exchange, controlling over 39.5% of the total spot crypto trading volume. Coinbase is the world’s sixth-largest exchange, controlling over 6.1% of the market share, CoinGecko data shows.

Cointelegraph has approached Coinbase and Binance for commentary.

Related: Binance founder CZ sees positive shift in crypto regulation worldwide 

Fantom token listing allegedly costs up to $303 million — Andre Cronje

Tron founder Sun was not the only crypto personality who made claims about token listing fees.

Andre Cronje, founder of the Fantom Network, also posted that Coinbase had proposed various listing fees for Fantom (FTM), ranging from $30 million to as high as $300 million. Cronje responded to Armstrong’s post, “Binance charged us $0. Coinbase has asked us for; $300 million, $50 million, $30 million, and more recently $60 million.”

Andre Cronje is among the most respected founders in decentralized finance. Cronje’s Sonic blockchain claims to be the fastest Ethereum Virtual Machine chain that reached a “true” 720-ms finality in a testnet environment.

Previously, Cronje founded Yearn.finance and the Keep3r Network.

Related: Financial institutions want Bitcoin and ETFs: Blockstream’s Adam Back

Are CEX listing fees setting the stage for a DEX takeover?

Following Sun and Cronje’s initial replies, hundreds of others have voiced their concerns over the sustainability of current CEXs.

Other exchanges are also asking for tens of millions in listing fees, wrote Simon Dedic, the CEO and partner at Moonrock Capital. This could set the stage for an exodus to decentralized exchanges (DEXs), added Dedic in an Oct. 31 X post:

“I think it’s inevitable that DEXs will take over at some point.”

If confirmed, these rumors could indeed set the stage for a growing DEX landscape, responded crypto trader, analyst and entrepreneur Michaël van de Poppe in an Oct. 31 X post:

“I think that the DEXes are going to be way bigger as people are completely fed up with this structure. Exchanges have the power to literally kill your project.”

Over the past year, DEX trading volumes grew “significantly larger,” surpassing the monthly $250 billion mark in March and June for the first time since December 2021, according to an 0XScope research report shared with Cointelegraph.

As of Oct. 17, the DEX spot trading volume in relation to CEXs was at 13.6%, meaning that for every $1 billion traded on centralized exchanges, there is $136 million being traded on decentralized platforms.

Magazine: Edgelord version of 3AC’s big fat bet on memecoin supercycle: Asia Express