Coinbase to list Ethereum Classic ( ETC ) instead of Ripple XRP

Coinbase, one of the most secure and popular cryptocurrency exchanges, has announced that they will list Ethereum Classic on the Coinbase instead of Ripple XRP. This is an excellent development for cryptocurrency space as coinbase being one of the premier US exchanges in terms of the number of user and transaction volume.

As of now, coinbase only lists Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and Ethereum.

This move from coinbase is surprising. As of writing this post, as per coinmarketcap.com, Ethereum classic ranks 18th in terms of market capitalization. Ripple XRP is ranked 3rd in the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

Snip from CoinMarketCap.com

Why Ethereum Classic ETC?

Ethereum Classic is a result of a hard fork of the Ethereum network in July 2016 due to differences in opinions among developers after investors lost their investments in DAOs. Listing Ethereum Classic means Coinbase's preference is more inclined towards listing ERC-20 coins and Bitcoin forks rather than other cryptos in this space.

Considering their market cap, many exchanges would have chosen Ripple XRP or EOS as coins and that is the reason why the community is so confused about the decision by Coinbase.

It seems coinbase has an internal asset selection committee that recommends assets that pass their Digital Asset Framework to their executive committee. "After evaluating factors such as liquidity, price stability, and other market health metrics, we may choose to add Ethereum Classic to the Coinbase platform," said the announcement.

Why not Ripple XRP?

Ripple and EOS though they have a huge market capital, they are still controlled by companies.  Ripple, in particular, is touted as centralized in nature as per the research paper by BitMex. However, there is always debate on whether Ripple XRP is truly centralized or decentralized in nature.

It seems Ripple XRP didn't pass Digital Asset Framework by coinbase and could not get listed.
Only time will tell if Ethereum classic will be a next success story. In any case, listing on Coinbase is a huge success for any cryptocurrency.