Citing low usage, Coinbase Wallet announced that it will no longer support four previously prominent tokens which have lost steam over the past several months.
Slated for delisting by Monday, December 5th, are Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum Classic, Ripple token XRP Ledger, and Stellar. Despite being delisted, users may still withdraw after the date as there will be a recovery period that will run until January 23, 2023.
Similar to digital wallets like MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet is a self-regulating mobile application that offers a greater range of support options for digital assets.
To date, however, Coinbase has refrained from giving more detailed explanations to the media despite several requests for additional information.
The Case Against XRP
While XRP remains the seventh largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, it has been in freefall since December of last year. Ripple, the company behind the token, was accused at the time of issuing over $1 billion in unregistered tokens. A case against Ripple was subsequently filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC.)
It may be recalled by industry watchers that the XRP Ledger blockchain was originally launched to assist banks and other traditional financial institutions to move money faster sans fees.
XRP’s market capitalization is currently pegged at around $19.6 billion, while its average 24-hour trade volume stands at $1 billion across all exchanges.
What About the Other Cryptocurrencies in Question?
Bitcoin Cash, on the other hand, is a spin-off from the original Bitcoin token. It came about following a hard fork wherein a number of Bitcoin contributors opted to take the blockchain in a separate direction. Despite the delisting, it remains the world’s 29th-largest digital asset.
What drove Bitcoin Cash at the height of its popularity was that it enabled users to make faster and more efficient crypto payments than its parent token, the original Bitcoin.
The same may be said about Ethereum Classic which was spun off from the original Ethereum blockchain when users built upon the network. It also remains the 25th largest digital asset by market capitalization.
Much like XRP for Ripple, Stellar’s token is used on its own blockchain and payment network. Developed by one of the people behind Ripple, the Stellar blockchain was created as a more cost-effective way to move money across borders. Stellar’s market capitalization is currently pegged at $2.2 billion.
