Coinbase to Support Airdrop That Gives All XRP Holders Free Crypto

Coinbase customers will receive the airdrop...should Coinbase list the token.

In brief

• Coinbase will support an airdrop that will give all XRP holders free crypto.
• Last week, the company issuing the airdrop said that Coinbase is likely too late.
• Several other exchanges also support the airdrop.

Last week, Flare Network, the company that next week will issue all XRP holders with an equivalent amount of Spark tokens, said that Coinbase was “likely too late” to let its customers participate in its airdrop.

Near radio-silence, it said, for the company that holds billions of dollars worth of customers’ XRP. 

But today, Coinbase announced that it had turned things around. It shall support the Spark airdrop, after all! 

“If you are an eligible customer holding an XRP balance on Coinbase or Coinbase Pro on the snapshot date and time of December 12, 2020, 00:00 AM UTC, you’ll receive Spark tokens from Coinbase at a later date after the Flare network launch,” reads the jubilant announcement on the Coinbase blog, posted today.

Hooray!

But caveat emptor, Coinbase customers—there’s one last hurdle that could scupper your chances of receiving the airdrop: regulators.

Coinbase, a San Francisco-based exchange, is beholden to regulators, whose dictums determine which coins Coinbase can and cannot list.

So even if Coinbase supports the airdrop, certain customers may not be eligible to receive the coins. 

“Our decision to support any asset requires significant technical and compliance review and may be subject to regulatory approval in some jurisdictions. We therefore cannot guarantee when or if Spark will be available for distribution in any specific jurisdiction at this time,” it said.

Which jurisdictions support the airdrop? Coinbase doesn't say; Decrypt has asked them and will update this article should we hear back.

Other exchanges supporting the airdrop include Kraken, Binance, Bitfinex, Bithumb, Bittrex, eToro, Huobi, OKEx and Poloniex. 

Of course, there’s no guarantee that these Spark tokens will be worth anything whatsoever.