Californian cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is now offering support for British pounds (GBP).
The giant crypto trading platform Coinbase is excited to announce it has added a new fiat currency to its portfolio: British pounds (GBP). The announcement was made on Thursday and it comes as a solution to the high demand for GBP deposits and withdrawals.
Until 1 August, the crypto users based in the UK needed to exchange their pounds in euro and reverse to benefit from Coinbase’s services. The process was a long one, reaching up to a few days as all the transactions were made through international bank transfer. Starting yesterday, the users are able to make deposits and withdrawals from Coinbase using their UK bank accounts, while transactions will be completed in less than 24 hours.
“Coinbase GBP support is now live for many customers and we will continue rolling out availability to all UK customers in the coming weeks.”
Coinbase GBP support is now live for many customers and we will continue rolling out availability to all UK customers in the coming weeks. 🎉
— Coinbase (@coinbase) August 1, 2018
As written in the blog post by Coinbase UK CEO Zeeshan Feroz, the company is getting closer to “making Coinbase the most trusted and compliant brand in the space”.
“These steps include obtaining an e-money license for our fiat operations from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), adding support for the Faster Payment Scheme, and becoming the first cryptocurrency trading platform to obtain a bank account with a major UK bank,” he added.
The new support will definitely help the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange increase its traded volume, but also its database, as more UK users will be interested in using Coinbase instead of competitors. The new update targets especially active traders – Coinbase Pro as well as organizations – Coinbase Prime for whom transaction processing time is an important feature.
Coinbase is up to innovation in recent months. Towards the end of June, the company released a custody service dedicated to institutional investors. Ten venture capitalists have already begun to use the service. Towards the end of the year, Coinbase proposed to record a total of 100 investors.