Coinbase Expands Service to 50 More Countries, Launches USDC Support in 85 Jurisdictions
and service has expanded USD Coin () to in 85 countries, the firm announced in a on May 14.
Along with the USDC announcement, also announced a major global expansion, adding 50 more jurisdictions to its coverage, including such countries as , and , among others.
Starting from today, serves in 103 countries in total, the exchange wrote, adding that the move will help accelerate the global of .
USD Coin is the listed for on platform: the exchange first listed USDC back in October 2018 for in selected jurisdictions in the U.S..
By adding USDC coverage in 85 global jurisdictions, aims to “improve the lives of people in countries where inflation is eroding wealth,” according to the blog post. The company stated that like USDC could provide an opportunity to protect against high inflation in newly added countries like and Uzbekistan, where consumer prices are expected to inflate by 10–20% in 2020.
Earlier this week, a startup backed by , Reserve, announced that it would soon be a Venmo-style app in Venezuela for crypto-fiat payments, specifically targeting the country in order to help citizens get around the rising inflation.
A stablecoin is a designed to have minimal price due to its 1:1 peg to a certain currency or holding. At press time, there are 348 million USDC circulating with a daily volume of around $250 million, according to data from .
BL3P the expansion of their services into the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). This marks a significant extension from their original operation which primarily served residents of the Netherlands. , a subsidiary of , is a bitcoin exchange founded in 2013 that allows users to buy and sell bitcoin using Euros.
With their expansion complete, BL3P’s aims to grow their user base outside of their Dutch majority through the targeting of new customers in the EU region. Speaking to bitcoin Magazine Jeroen Rijnbout of BL3P stated, “We want to put BL3P on the map as a reliable and user-friendly trading platform for users from the Eurozone.” In the long term, BL3P hopes to build its reputation “as an exchange that is run by an experienced team and take Bitonic to the international stage.”
The move brings BL3P into the EU marketplace, which is already competitive in the bitcoin space with dozens of exchanges competing for customers. Rijnbout views this competition with optimism stating, “We believe it is good to have multiple exchanges to choose from. This enables users to spread their risk, profit from arbitrage and choose a party that they trust. Centralization of the majority of bitcoin trading to one exchange is dangerous, as we have seen in the past. We see it as a healthy development for the ecosystem.”
With their recent expansion, the Dutch company now allows all SEPA countries to buy and sell bitcoin. Their current services offer the ability to use market and limit orders. BL3P charges a fixed trading fee of 0.25 percent on all buy/sell transactions. However, for the next five weeks this transaction fee is discounted by 50 percent as part of Bitonic’s 5th anniversary celebration.
BL3P currently offers services that support the bitcoin cryptocurrency, but has stated its plans to expand support to alternative cryptocurrencies in the future. “We pay close attention to the developments in altcoins and see great value in some of them as testbeds for future developments on bitcoin,” says Rijnbout.
“We tend to be hesitant in adding new currencies, as we want to ensure an altcoin or token has added value before we add them to our platforms,” Rijnbout adds. “However, at the same time, we listen to and understand the needs of traders and investors and we want to be able to meet their wishes.” For example, Rijnbout suggested that support for Litecoin on their trading platform is of particular interest to BL3P with services coming “soon.”
BL3P is the only exchange with headquarters located in the Netherlands; it holds Dutch bank accounts to process euro transactions. Bitonic uses the iDEAL payment method which ensures that SEPA customers receive near-instant deposits and withdrawals of fiat currency into customer accounts.
Bitonic is the largest bitcoin company in the Netherlands. With more than 11 full-time employees, BL3P has sold well over 275,000 bitcoins with 30-day volumes now processing over 8,200 bitcoins.
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