The US-based cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, is reportedly working on expanding its catalog of supported digital assets with the addition of “Solana Program Library” (SPL) tokens.
Key takeaways:
- According to CoinDesk, which initially reported the news, Coinbase is working on integrating SPL, which is “a collection of on-chain programs targeting the Sealevel parallel runtime,” according to Solana’s GitHub repository. In essence, SPL fulfills a similar to the ERC-20 token standard on Ethereum.
- The first asset native to the Solana blockchain that will be listed on Coinbase is reportedly going to be the Solana-based USDC Coin, the second-largest stablecoin in the industry. The total amount of USDC that circulates on Solana is now up to $4.8 billion, up from $2.5 billion last September.
- Coinbase has recently dramatically changed its strategy when it comes to listing new crypto assets. While the exchange has long been reluctant to list coins other than those with the largest market cap, the trading platform has since changed its approach and has been listing assets at a much faster rate as of late. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted last June that their aim “is to list *every* asset where it is legal to do so.”
- Solana is a highly efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) Layer 1 blockchain looking to challenge Ethereum’s dominance in the cryptocurrency space. However, the Solana ecosystem has a long way to go – its biggest token Serum has a market capitalization of $285 million, while Ethereum’s largest token, Shiba Inu, commands an $11.6 billion valuation.
- According to blockchain analytics firm DeFiLlama, there is currently $7.8 billion worth of digital assets locked on Solana’s chain, compared to Ethereum’s TVL of $118 billion.
- The reports of Coinbase listing Solana-native tokens were shared with CoinDesk by unnamed sources familiar with the matter. As of yet, Coinbase has made no official announcement about Solana tokens or comments about the reports. However, given its recent track record, the exchange will in all likelihood be onboarding Solana-native assets before long.
