A interesting debate is heating up between two of crypto’s biggest names. Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao CZ Challenges Coinbase to start listing more projects from the BNB Chain ecosystem. This comes right after Coinbase surprisingly added the BNB token itself to its public listing roadmap.
Why CZ Challenges Coinbase
The heart of the issue is fairness. In a post on X, CZ pointed out that Binance already lists several tokens from Coinbase’s own “Base” network. However, Coinbase hasn’t listed a single project native to the BNB Chain, even though it’s one of the most active blockchains in the world.
The numbers back him up. Data from Nansen shows BNB Chain processed over 500 million transactions last month—a massive 150% increase. It’s also attracting major institutions, like a recent $3.8 billion money market fund. CZ’s argument is simple: strong projects from any chain deserve a fair shot.
The Bigger “Listing War”
This isn’t just about one chain. It’s part of a bigger conversation about how exchanges decide what to list. Coinbase recently started a “Blue Carpet” program to make its process more transparent. Meanwhile, other experts have criticized the exchange for sometimes listing low-quality assets while ignoring major ones like BNB.
CZ has also stated that truly strong projects shouldn’t have to pay huge fees to get listed. If a token has real users and utility, he believes exchanges should list it based on merit alone.
My Thoughts
This public callout puts pressure on Coinbase to practice what it preaches about being an open marketplace. If they start listing quality BNB Chain projects, it would be a huge win for the ecosystem and its users. It also pushes the entire industry toward more merit-based listings, which is better for everyone except maybe the projects that rely on paying fees instead of building utility.
