crypto companies are finally having a client-oriented attitude
I think they're starting to feel the squeeze from Binance and all the improvements they've been making the past couple of months adding Euro trading and credit card purchases.
Either this is a huge mistake from coinbase or they're realizing that allowing users to hold their own coins is more important than claiming free crypto they're getting from forks when they're not "supporting" said fork.
Maybe, they just decided it's not worth the bad press when they don't support it and transfer the funds to the users or when they have to deal with all the headaches by supporting it.
I think this is just a move in anticipation of where the crypto market is heading anyway especially with Binance working on a DEX.
I would lean towards that.