Coinbase Global has removed 'how to buy' instructions for at least three crypto tokens that have been the subject of 'rug pull' warnings that investors may lose money, saying on Thursday that it plans to improve safeguards.
According to Jaclyn Sales, a Coinbase spokesperson, the links were removed from the cryptocurrency exchange's website after Reuters brought them to their attention this week. She also stated that safeguards on its auto-created webpages would be improved.
Coinbase, a Nasdaq-listed company, has pages that offer advice on investing in tokens, and the pages in question were informational rather than making them available for trading on its app or wallet.

Sales claimed that the pages, which included a disclaimer that the information was not investment advice and that the exchange was not liable for "errors and delays," were generated automatically using data from the data website CoinMarketCap.

CoinMarketCap stated that it was unaware of the Coinbase pages, and its vice-president of growth and operations, Shaun Heng, stated that there was no collaboration with Coinbase.

Sales stated that it was unclear whether Coinbase performed checks on the coins whose information pages were removed. Coinbase said in an email to Reuters on Thursday that it would "build a more robust disclaimer for the pages that are being auto-created."

Coinbase would also "create a process to remove any other pages that CoinMarketCap has flagged as potentially being scams," it said, adding that "assets related to known scams were not tradeable on the exchange."
'RUGBY PULLS'

Coinbase removed one page that advertised DeFi100 and directed users to CoinMarketCap to find out where they could purchase it.

The DeFi100 page on CoinMarketCap, on the other hand, warns: "We have received numerous reports that this project was a scam. Please proceed with caution."

According to CoinMarketCap, which does not sell cryptocurrencies, DeFi100's tokens have not had any daily trading volumes since November 14.

DeFi100's website and Medium blog are currently unavailable. Its most recent tweet was in May of last year. 

'MERCENARY'

Coinbase also removed a page featuring Mercenary, a token that, like DeFi100, was not available on Coinbase's app or wallet.

Mercenary debuted in January, reaching a high of nearly $20. However, it fell from just over $8 to a fraction of a cent in minutes on January 26 and has not recovered since, according to CoinMarketCap data.

PeckShield, a blockchain security firm, tweeted on January 26 that Mercenary had been hit by a rug pull and advised buyers to avoid it.

Reuters was unable to contact Mercenary, and its website and Twitter account are both unavailable.

It is unclear when Coinbase launched its page on Mercenary, which according to archived webpages first featured CoinMarketCap on January 15. CoinMarketCap did not respond when asked if it had removed Mercenary from its system.

Coinbase has also removed a page for a token called Squid Game, which crashed to nearly zero in November in what cyber security experts called another rug pull. It was also not available through Coinbase's app or wallet.