Coinbase surprised crypto markets on Wednesday by unveiling a new listing program for issuers and, minutes later, adding BNB to its listing roadmap – an unexpected nod to its biggest rival’s flagship token.
At 4:12 p.m. UTC, the Coinbase Markets account on X introduced “The Blue Carpet,” a revamped asset listing experience aimed at making the process more transparent for on-chain builders.
According to the Coinbase blog, the bundle offers a direct line to the SEO team for personalized advice, the ability to request updates to an asset’s page through Coinbase’s centralized exchange and its retail DEX, referral discounts for services such as MiCA whitepaper support and market maker matching, and limited Coinbase One subscriptions for select core team members. Coinbase reiterated that applications and registrations are free and issuers are not required to purchase ancillary services.
At 16:45 UTC, Coinbase Markets announced that BNB had been added to the roadmap. As with other elements of the roadmap, the signal reflects intent rather than immediate availability. Inclusion of a roadmap does not guarantee a listing; Coinbase may delay or reject assets if liquidity, technical, compliance or other requirements are not met. Coinbase said the exchanges would be announced separately once sufficient support and infrastructure for market making was in place.
The timing is remarkable.
Just nine days earlier, Arca CIO Jeff Dorman posted a review claiming that Coinbase lists “some of the worst assets” while ignoring “the best,” and he highlighted tokens issued by rival platforms – including BNB – as examples of high-performing assets that the exchange had historically not offered. He said an exchange should either be listed broadly and be neutral or select the “best assets” like a broker, and criticized Coinbase for falling between these models.
Dorman further compared BNB, LEO, TRX and HYPE – citing revenue-backed redemptions and strong tokenomics – with what he called inflationary tokens and opaque listing practices, describing Coinbase’s approach as selectively exclusive. In this context, the addition of BNB to the roadmap appears to be a significant change in posture, even if a listing is not guaranteed.
Beyond its origins in 2017 as a trading fee token, BNB now serves as the primary gas asset for BNB chain transactions and is used on that network for payments, staking, token launches, and governance proposals – functioning as the chain’s transaction fuel and utility token.
Pairing the blue carpet rollout with the addition of a far-reaching roadmap indicates that Coinbase aims to court major non-native assets where liquidity, compliance and technical standards are met, despite rival affiliations.
At the time of writing, BNB stood at $1,164.33, down 4.7% in the last 24 hours.
