Coinbase Prime Drops Custody Support for 49 Altcoins

Coinbase Prime, the institutional arm of the major U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, announced it will remove custody support for 49 altcoins by the end of this month.

Coinbase Prime, the institutional division of the leading U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, is set to discontinue support for 49 altcoins by the end of April.

The decision, which was announced in a recent blog post, affects a diverse range of tokens, including those backed by real estate and several tokens launched in 2023.

Coinbase explained that it regularly assesses the assets it supports to ensure they continue to meet the company’s standards. Following recent reviews, Coinbase Prime will cease providing custody support for 49 assets, beginning in April 2024.

The affected assets span various categories and include some of the most popular altcoins, such as Aave (AAVE), Axie Infinity (AXS), and Optimism (OP). Coinbase is also dropping support for several metaverse and gaming tokens, such as ApeCoin (APE), Animoca Brands (MOBI), and Flow (FLOW).

Coinbase Prime is designed to serve institutional clients by offering custody, trading, and financing solutions. Among these services, custody plays a crucial role in providing a secure storage method that complies with regulations and protects large-scale cryptoeconomic investments.

The decision to remove support for 49 altcoins signals a strategic adjustment on the platform’s part. This shift in strategy could be attributed to several factors, including regulatory pressure, market demand, and Coinbase’s own internal standards.

While some of the tokens have remained stable—or even increased in the short term (like PNT, ORAI, TEL, and IDEA)—others have experienced slight declines since their highs.

Impacted Coinbase Prime clients will be required to liquidate or transfer their holdings before April 30, 2024. If the balance reaches zero or lower by the stated date, no action will be needed. However, any remaining balance in these assets after the deadline may become inaccessible.

Although Coinbase did not disclose the specific criteria for selecting the assets, the company stated that it is continually reviewing the assets available on its platform to ensure they align with the needs of Coinbase’s institutional clients and the company’s core values.