Coinbase Opens Floodgates: Now Launching Stablecoins for Third-Party Startups
Coinbase just handed the crypto world a master key. The exchange giant is rolling out a full-service stablecoin launchpad—built specifically for outside startups wanting their own digital dollar.
Democratizing the Dollar Peg
Forget the old playbook of building from scratch. This move lets any funded project skip the regulatory maze and technical grunt work. Coinbase handles the compliance backbone, the smart contract architecture, and the initial liquidity pools. Startups bring the vision and the community.
Why This Cuts Deep
It's a direct power play. By becoming the infrastructure provider, Coinbase isn't just a marketplace anymore—it's the mint. They're betting that the future isn't one dominant stablecoin, but a constellation of purpose-built ones, and they intend to be the factory floor for all of them. It turns regulatory overhead from a barrier into their core product.
The New Battleground
This isn't about competing with USDC. It's about enveloping the entire sector. Every startup that uses this service gets woven into Coinbase's ecosystem by default, creating a sticky, ever-expanding network effect. It's a brilliant, if cynical, land grab disguised as a helpful tool—the kind of move that makes traditional finance VPs spill their overpriced coffee.
The final take? Coinbase is no longer just building products. It's building the bedrock. And they're charging rent.
Coinbase offers platform for self-branded stablecoins
Coinbase’s Developer Platform now offers full capabilities for custody, payments, trading, and stablecoins.
The new stablecoin features go beyond the available payment API. Coinbase also allows for the creation of custom-branded stablecoins, backed by several types of collateral. Some of the new stablecoins may be launched against USDC, making them essentially backed by assets in transparent bank reserves.
Coinbase Custom Stablecoins offers projects the ability to use their own ticker and branding, as well as rewards and incentives. The issuance process will be handled by Coinbase. Projects like Flipcash, Solflare, and R2 are already exploring the custom stablecoins, announced Coinbase.
Some of the stablecoin payments may also use the x402 standard, making it easy to attack stablecoin payments to web requests and even engage AI agents.
Stablecoin launches, especially backed by fiat, follow the approval of the Genius Bill for the US market. As blockchains become mainstream infrastructure, projects can test private money and ecosystems based on stablecoins.
White label stablecoins were also launched by other crypto organizations, including Ethena, Agora Finance, and BitGo. Currently, stablecoins are still dominated by USDT and USDC, but niche launches like USD1 by World Liberty Fi may pave the way for other similar ecosystem assets.
Coinbase appoints British minister as head of advisory
Coinbase aims to expand its regulated services, paying more attention to the details of regulation. The platform promoted former British Finance Minister George Osborne as head of its internal advisory council. Osborne has been advising Coinbase since January 2025, but will now have a more active role in reaching out to global policymakers.
“Chairing the Global Advisory Council will give me more opportunity to learn about the revolution that blockchain, stablecoins and tokenisation are bringing to our financial system,” explained Osborne in a written statement. The former finance minister will remain based in London for his role with Coinbase.
After achieving multiple lobbying goals in the USA, Coinbase aims to increase its international presence, with influence on foreign policymakers. The UK and European Union markets are some of the prime targets for Coinbase, said chief policy officer Faryar Shirad for Reuters.
Osborne is also advising OpenAI on the creation of overseas data centers, alongside other roles as a private business advisor.
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