Just a month after Coinbase announced that it would support UK banks on its platform the crypto exchange is now launching GBP trading pairs.
According to the company blog the new Sterling trading pairs will be launched on Friday, September 7. The move is part of the San Francisco headquartered firm’s push to make buying and selling cryptocurrencies easier for UK customers.
Previously Coinbase users in Britain had to deposit fiat into an account in Estonia and endure excessive fees and commissions since it was then converted to Euros on the trading platform. The announcement explains that it is now much easier to use the platform;
“With support for UK domestic bank transfers in GBP via the Faster Payments Scheme, it is now significantly easier, faster and cheaper for UK customers to trade cryptocurrencies on the Coinbase platform. Coinbase Pro is the only major digital currency trading platform that supports UK Faster Payments and it’s our goal to be the trading platform of choice for UK crypto traders.”
Coinbase currently uses Barclays Bank which makes transferring from other UK accounts, though not all of them, quicker and cheaper. Account verification is done with a simple £2 deposit which is acknowledged the following day. The Faster Payments Scheme is only available in the UK and allows up to £250,000 per transaction.
In addition to the existing BTC/GBP pair four new ones will be enable; ETH/GBP, LTC/GBP, BCH/GBP and ETC/GBP. There will be three stages to the launch to ensure a smooth rollout and adoption;
- Post only. In the first stage, customers can post limit orders but there will be no matches (completed orders). Order books will be in post-only mode for a minimum of 10 minutes.
- Limit-only. In the second stage, limit orders will start matching but customers are unable to submit market orders. Order books will be in limit-only mode for a minimum of 10 minutes.
- Full trading. In the final stage, full trading services will be available, including limit, market, and stop orders.
Despite the current market calamity Coinbase is aggressively expanding into new markets and new currencies. By making it easier to deposit fiat and trade in the home currency the exchange is angling to take the top spot in the UK.
Luke has been writing on technology and forex for 10 years, he has a keen eye for emerging cryptocurrency news and blockchain developments.
