Coinbase exchange has been removing several trading pairs in order to enhance liquidity on its platforms. It has suspended 80 non-USD trading pairs, including Bitcoin, stablecoins like Tether, and fiat currencies like the euro.
According to Coinbase, the removal of these trading pairs aims to consistently improve overall market health and consolidate liquidity. The pairs were removed from the exchange and other platforms like Advanced Trade and Coinbase Prime.
This series of trading pair removals is part of the exchange’s strategy to suspend the markets announced in early October. Coinbase also emphasized that users of the affected platforms can still trade the markets in its “more liquid USD order books” through the exchange’s USDC balances.
@CoinbaseExch regularly monitors the markets on our exchange. In an effort to improve overall market health and consolidate liquidity, we will be removing a number of non-USD trading pairs for certain supported assets.
— Coinbase Exchange 🛡️📞 (@CoinbaseExch) October 2, 2023
This mechanism has already been implemented by Coinbase. In mid-September, the decision was made to remove another 41 non-USD markets, citing the same reasons, ‘to improve liquidity.’ However, none of the suspended markets included USDC.
These recurring measures to enhance liquidity are taking place amidst the decline in Coinbase’s trading volumes throughout the year. According to CCData, Coinbase’s spot trading volumes for the third quarter plummeted by 52% since 2022. 
It’s worth noting that this phenomenon is not unique to Coinbase but has affected other exchanges as well, including Binance. Their spot market share has fallen once again, continuing a trend for seven months. It dropped from 55% at the beginning of this year to 34% in September.
Coinbase Pressures the SEC
Coinbase has been making policy changes for some time to comply with established regulations. However, the exchange is in constant conflict with the SEC.
They filed a complaint in court, accusing the SEC of failing to fulfill its regulatory duties. Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, criticized the SEC’s delays on various social media platforms, demanding a detailed response within a maximum of 30 days to a regulation petition that Coinbase had submitted the previous year.
According to the exchange, the SEC retaliated without clarifying how the current regulatory framework applies and ignored all of their requests. Now, the court has requested the SEC to explain the reasons for denying the regulation requested by Coinbase.
