Coinbase Won't Handle AI Token Merger for Users

By Jason Nelson

U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has announced that it “will not execute” the upcoming migration of tokens for the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (ASI), which means Coinbase users will need to figure out the ins and outs of this highly anticipated token merger for themselves.

The Artificial Superintelligence Alliance is a consortium of AI-based blockchain companies Ocean Protocol, Fetch AI, and SingularityNET. The group announced in April that their respective tokens—OCEAN, FET, and AGIX—would merge. While the Alliance said there would be mechanisms available for swapping tokens, Coinbase now says it will not be a part of the process.

“For the ASI token migration, Coinbase will not migrate these tokens on behalf of users, but users will be able to migrate their own OCEAN and FET to ASI using Coinbase Prime Web3 wallet or another Ethereum-compatible self-custody wallet,” a Coinbase spokesperson told Decrypt.

"Coinbase does not currently support [SingularityNET token] AGIX on our platform, which is why this was not included," the company later noted.

As for listings on its exchange, Coinbase added that “trading support will continue for FET and OCEAN until further notice.” As the token merger will effectively result in the OCEAN and AGIX tokens being folded into FET, it's yet unclear how Coinbase will continue to support trading for the rebranded FET token if it won't support the migration on its platform.

According to Fetch AI founder and CEO Humayun Sheikh, Coinbase’s decision will not impact the merger of the three tokens.

“We confirm that the merger of AGIX and OCEAN into FET will occur on Monday, July 1st,” Sheikh told Decrypt. Initially, the date of the merger was scheduled to take place on June 13, before the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance pushed the date back.

Ultimately, FET will become the official token of the ASI as OCEAN and AGIX are phased out.

“This transition will be seamless, and FET trading will remain uninterrupted and will not be delisted,” the alliance said in a prepared statement. The token will be renamed, however, which may add another layer of confusion for users. “The project will rebrand to the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance across platforms like CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko.”

“Not all exchanges will be onboarded immediately, however, they will be integrated as we move towards Phase 2 of the migration,” the group added.

Coinbase’s decision to not support the ASI migration is not the first time the exchange said it would not support a token’s actions.

When Gala Games prepared to launch an airdrop of V2 tokens last month, Coinbase told users that they were free to send their tokens to a self-custody wallet, the exchange would not support the transition, would disable trading for the V1 GALA token, and would not let holders receiving the new token airdrop.

Gala Games’ President of Blockchain Jason Brink wrote on Twitter at the time he was unsure about why Coinbase took this stance but suspected that it was due to the event appearing like an "airdrop" of new tokens instead of replacing older tokens.

“It is my hope that once there is a little bit of clarity, they will decide to support the V2 token,” Brink said.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.

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