Coinbase users will soon be able to buy and trade Stellar Lumens (XLM), the native cryptocurrency of the Stellar blockchain, on Coinbase Pro. In a Medium post published earlier today, the leading U.S.’ leading custodial service announced that Stellar services will be “immediately available” in all supported jurisdictions, with the exception of New York State.
According to the announcement, inbound transfers of XLM will be enabled starting at 1 p.m. PST. As with previous listings, trading functionality will be enabled in stages, to prevent front-running and market manipulation. Approximately twelve hours after deposits begin, users will be post trading orders, and the exchange will begin matching them. Full trading will only become available after each of these stages has been completed.
Although the distribution of lumens does not follow the letter of Coinbase’s Digital Asset Framework, the Stellar vision is closely aligned with that of Coinbase. According to the announcement:
“Stellar aims to connect banks, payment systems and individuals quickly and reliably. Since its launch in 2014, its vision has been to unite the world’s financial infrastructure so that money can flow quickly and cheaply between banks, businesses, and people. The Internet connected the world’s computers so that information could be shared globally. Stellar aims to do the same for money.”
More Drama Ahead?
The announcement resolves one of the last cliffhangers which Coinbase initiated early last year. Shortly after listing Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC), the San Francisco-based wallet service announced its intention to gradually list five popular tokens: 0x, Basic Attention Token, Zcash, Stellar and Cardano (ADA). Following today’s announcement, Cardano (ADA) is the only one which has not yet been listed.
Other tokens, including the dollar-backed Circle USD, and Ripple’s XRP token, have also been listed, but not all of them have proceeded seamlessly.
The most recent listing, XRP, was met with widespread complaints by users whose deposits had been misplaced. Because these users had used incorrect “destination tags,” the exchange said, these deposits were “permanently lost.”
Like XRP, the Stellar protocol uses destination tags, and Coinbase has warned traders that this field must be correctly filled in order for deposits to be credited. “Please note that inbound transfers require the specification of an XLM memo,“ the exchange said in the announcement.
If the XRP listing is any indication, today’s announcement could be followed by more unhappy Stellar hodlers.
The author is invested in Stellar and XRP, which are mentioned in this article.
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