Coinbase launched the first regulated Bitcoin exchange in the U.S. The price of one bitcoin continue rising.
On Monday, Lunar, the first regulated Bitcoin exchange in the U.S., was introduced by Coinbase making the most discussed digital currency’s costs increase. Its unstable pricing makes Bitcoin well-known. But doubters disapprove it and criticize for its anonymity which facilitates illegal activity.
“We’re happy to announce Coinbase Exchange, the first regulated bitcoin exchange based in the U.S.,” says the company’s blog. “With this launch our goal is to bring increased stability to the bitcoin ecosystem.
The brand-new exchange is backed by such investors as the NY Stock Exchange and represents a trustworthy and safe platform for trading. If you are a Coinbase user and are situated in one of the 24 supported U.S. states or territories, you can use the exchange without any restrictions.
The company promised not to take any fees through March 30th. After that date, Coinbase will use a maker-taker model. In case you don’t have a Coinbase account, you can sign up for one here.
The company expresses its hopes in their blog: “We believe Coinbase Exchange will bring stability and trust to the exchange space and are excited that large institutions like the Trading Division of SecondMarket are already trading on the platform.”
Either the exchange itself or the wallets linked to it are protected against internal theft, hacking, and accidental loss in an amount that covers maximum cost of bitcoin the company can hold in online storage at any given time. To discover more information, click here.
Initially, the exchange will be limited to users in the U.S. Nevertheless, Brian Armstrong, 32, Chief Executive, says that he’s planning to expand the services of the company and launch it overseas. The company expects to attract both individuals and businesses looking to trade bitcoin. “Our goal is to become the world’s largest exchange,” says Mr. Armstrong.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that in September the integration of PayPal’s Braintree with CoinBase was announced. That fact positively influenced bitcoin pricing. The integration announcement was followed by PayPal’s limitations regarding its merchants.
“Today, our initial integration with Coinbase is complete and we are opening up private beta access to allow merchants in the US to accept bitcoin via v.Zero,” the company wrote in their blog post on January 22, 2015.
Just some days ago, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss announced they would seek to launch an exchange called Gemini as soon as New York’s BitLicense regulation is finalized. The Gemini’s team includes Michael Breu, who previously worked as head of information security in the research department at Bridgewater Associates, head of security Cem Paya, who previously held the same position at Airbnb, Katten Muchin Rosenman, a specialist of financial regulations.
Almost 40,000 merchants use Coinbase’s service and about 2.2 million user wallets are linked to the company. As for staff, Coinbase counts about 75 employees and is planning to work in at least 30 countries by the end of the year.
Fred Ehrsam, Coinbase co-founder, told Fortune that the firm has grown extensively during 2014, despite the decreasing bitcoin costs: “Price volatility isn’t good for certain uses of Bitcoin,” says Ehrsam. Still, he stresses the fact that the number of customers increased from 600,000 to 2.1 millions.”
Mr.Armstrong thinks positively as well comparing Bitcoin with the Web invention: “We are just seeing a classic hype cycle. The Internet in 2001, the NASDAQ crashed down. In many ways, bitcoin is the most exciting technology since the Internet, we think.”
In 2014, the company managed to land different large retail associates, such as Mozilla, Overstock, Square, Dell, and Wikipedia.
Obviously, it was a huge and successful year for Coinbase. The beginning is great and promises success in the future.
What do you think about the new exchange? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
Eugenia graduated from Minsk State Linguistic University with a degree in Intercultural Communication, Translation/Interpretation (Italian, English). Currently she works as a business analyst, freelance interpreter and tutor. She’s fond of numismatics, photos, good books and sports, adores travelling and cooking.
