When Coinbase Global, Inc. announced that it is relaunching a public token-sales platform in the U.S., the crypto world took notice.
Under the direction of its chief executive officer Brian Armstrong, Coinbase is attempting to bring back the excitement of early-stage token launches, but this time with investor protections and a clear bias toward community participation rather than quick flips.
A U.S. Retail Comeback
For U.S. retail investors, this move marks the first broadly accessible token-sale platform since 2018. Projects will now be able to offer tokens directly to verified users via Coinbase, paying in the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC).
The first offering will come from MON, the native token of the layer-1 blockchain Monad Foundation, with a sale window running from November 17–22, 2025.
Built-in Fairness from the Ground Up
What makes this launch different is how Coinbase has structured the sale to favour broader participation and to discourage rapid resale (“flipping”).
The key features include:
- Request Window: Investors place requests during a one-week window.
- Allocation Algorithm: Rather than pure “first come, first served,” an algorithm is used that fills smaller requests ahead of large ones, promoting distribution among more participants. Coinbase describes this as “filling up from the bottom.”
- Anti-Flipping Rule: Users who sell their tokens within 30 days of listing may receive smaller allocations in future sales, a clear signal that long-term engagement is preferred.
- Issuer Lock-up: Projects featured on the platform and their affiliates will be restricted from off-exchange or secondary sales for six months after the public sale and will need Coinbase approval for such moves.
- No Buyer Fee: Buyers won’t pay a fee. Issuers will pay a percentage of the USDC they raise.
Why This Matters
In recent years, token launches have earned a reputation for being unfair, opaque and dominated by large investors. By creating a structured platform with defined guardrails, Coinbase is attempting to restore trust and re-position token sales as viable for regular investors, rather than exclusively for venture-backed insiders.
The involvement of a major regulated U.S. exchange also sends a signal that token fundraising might be entering a more mature phase.
For token issuers, the benefits appear clear: access to a large retail base, built-in mechanisms for fairer distribution, and clear listing prospects on Coinbase. For retail investors, the promise is early access to projects under more transparent, regulated conditions — albeit not without risk.
What’s Next
Coinbase plans to host approximately one token sale per month on this new platform.
Monitoring the following will be key:
- How many retail users participate and how broad the final allocations are.
- Whether projects offered maintain post-listing stability or face immediate dumping.
- How the regulatory environment responds — especially in the U.S., where token offerings continue to draw scrutiny.
- The performance of the MON token sale and the listing trajectory of Monad’s network.
