Shout out to the Coinbase listing team. For years now I’ve been sharing horror stories about CEXs that I’ve picked up from founders, other investors and industry insiders, about how shady exchanges and their listing teams enrich themselves at the expense of both founders and their own user base through listings. Turns out it didn’t fall on deaf ears. The Coinbase listing team themselves reached out to me, because they saw my criticism, appreciate it, and are always open to feedback on how they can keep improving their listing processes. Had an extensive call with them about it, and while it wasn’t particularly surprising, the Coinbase listing team is probably one of the very few that is genuinely trustable and compliant. They don’t try to squeeze founders, they simply list the best assets that people actually want, and they genuinely care about the industry for the long term. I found it really impressive how transparent they were, walking me through everything from front to back, sharing how their listing processes work and how they try to strike the right balance between memecoin listings and fundamentally strong projects. And even more impressive was how genuinely interested they were in my takes on what could still be improved in the listing process, what I’d like to see, and how they can ultimately become an even better exchange. They genuinely care and listen. Really like how they’re approaching listings, for two reasons: 1) they are truly 100% free. And I mean 100% free, no hidden costs like airdrop budgets or range rovers that come attached. 2) while volume should be their main focus and KPI as a business, they try to optimize for what’s best for their user base and this industry overall. Much smarter and more long term oriented than many of the other shady CEXs that just try to extract as much as possible in the moment. It goes to show once again why Coinbase is the oldest and most trustable exchange out there. They’ve always played the honest, long term game, and it has paid off big time so far. I don’t expect it to be any different this time. After all, here’s what makes me happiest about all of this: Massive confirmation that it’s worth speaking up, and that we don’t always have to just accept everything and swallow it. It might not be much, but I’m proud to be contributing to a better industry, and I’ll keep doing so. You can do it too.