Coinbase launches public token sales platform with US access, Monad as the first issuer

Crypto exchange Coinbase has launched a new public token sales platform that will allow retail investors, including those in the U.S., to participate in token sales for the first time since the 2018 regulatory clampdown. The first project to debut on the platform will be Monad, whose MON token sale will run from Nov. 17 to Nov. 22, ahead of the Monad mainnet launch on Nov. 24.

"Unlike 'first-come, first-served' sales that fail to reach a project’s real community, our token sale design prioritizes the many over the few," Coinbase said Monday. The exchange said it uses a "filling up from the bottom" algorithm that promotes broader distribution and limits concentration among large purchasers.

Coinbase said users who sell their tokens shortly after listing (within 30 days) may receive smaller allocations in future sales. "This is designed to prioritize access to a project’s real users," the exchange added.

The platform launch comes shortly after Coinbase acquired Echo, the onchain fundraising platform founded by popular crypto trader Jordan Fish (better known as Cobie), for about $375 million last month. Echo allows projects to raise directly from their community through private or public sales using its Sonar platform. A Coinbase spokesperson told The Block the new platform "is independent/  separate from the Echo brand."

Coinbase plans to host about one public token sale per month on its platform. Issuers must provide detailed disclosures on the project, tokenomics, and team so users can make informed decisions before purchasing, the exchange said. To promote price integrity, Coinbase said it requires a six-month lockup for issuers and their affiliates, prohibiting any token sales over-the-counter or in secondary markets during that period without its approval and public disclosure. The exchange also emphasized that users will not be charged participation or listing fees — Coinbase only takes a percentage of USDC proceeds from the issuer’s side for hosting the sale.

U.S. retail access marks a major step as it enables public participation in token launches for the first time since the 2018 regulatory clampdown. Public token sales, also known as initial coin offerings (ICOs), were a dominant method of crypto fundraising between 2016 and 2018, enabling projects to raise billions of dollars. The boom attracted both legitimate startups and fraudulent schemes, leading to widespread retail speculation. However, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission began cracking down on ICOs in 2018, arguing that many tokens were unregistered securities. This effectively ended the ICO era, pushing most new token launches offshore or into private sales limited to accredited investors.

The current Donald Trump administration has taken a friendlier stance toward crypto. "This is the most pro-crypto government in U.S. policy history, and we’re excited to build toward a new crypto landscape — one that prioritizes transparency and sustainable growth opportunities for builders and traders alike," the Coinbase spokesperson told The Block.

In the coming months, Coinbase said it plans to add features to its token sales platform, including limit orders and higher allocations for issuers' target user bases.

Monad token sale on Coinbase

Monad, an Ethereum-compatible Layer 1 blockchain, will be the first project to hold a public sale of its MON token on Coinbase’s new platform.

MON will launch with an initial supply of 100 billion tokens distributed across five main groups. Up to 7.5 billion MON tokens — or 7.5% of the initial supply — will be sold at $0.025 per token via Coinbase’s platform. The sale will be open globally, with purchase requests between $100 and $100,000, and any unsold tokens reallocated to ecosystem development.

Around 3.3 billion MON tokens (3.3%) were claimed in an airdrop by members of the Monad community and the wider crypto ecosystem, Monad said. Roughly 38.5 billion MON (38.5%) are allocated to ecosystem development and managed by the Monad Foundation — together representing 49.4% of tokens unlocked on day one.

The remaining 50.6% will be locked for at least a year, including 27 billion (27%) for team members, 19.7 billion (19.7%) for investors, and 3.95 billion (3.95%) for the Category Labs (formerly Monad Labs) treasury.

"Locked tokens cannot be staked," Monad said. "The intent of this is twofold: to ensure that staking rewards initially contribute to the public circulation of MON and to avoid an initial concentration of rewards among those individuals (team members and investors) involved directly with the project."

All locked tokens in the initial supply are expected to fully unlock by the fourth anniversary of the Monad public mainnet launch in the fourth quarter of 2029.