Cryptocurrency outlets are abuzz today with the news that Coinbase, a major exchange, is rolling out a new system called Coinbase Convert that will allow retail trading for cryptocurrencies.
“The functionality is giving customers the ability to directly convert between one cryptocurrency and another, which is pretty advanced,” Coinbase product manager Anna Marie Clifton reportedly told Cryptoground Dec. 18.
This service will start with Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and a few others. Coinbase is going to monitor feedback to decide how to add to its crypto exchange functions.
The service will be available for Android and iOS platforms.
This isn’t the first time that Coinbase has innovated in pioneering different types of crypto trading – back in October 2017, Coinbase was making headlines for ‘instant crypto’ purchases that would accommodate day trading on the exchange. This new phenomenon at the time was a game changer for crypto investors.
“The upshot is that those who buy Bitcoin from Coinbase will able to spend it right away,” wrote Jeff John Roberts in Fortune last October. “More importantly, the new policy makes it easier for ordinary investors to engage in day trading in the highly volatile digital currency market.”
Since then, Coinbase has been a popular way for users to acquire bitcoin. Studies mid-year showed around 50,000 signups each day as the exchange added options to its system.
Coinbase has also celebrated its $1 billion valuation mark, a big step by any standard. Even before this new service came online, Coinbase was, to some, the standard-bearer for crypto trading.
“As far as centralized marketplaces go, Coinbase is pretty hard to beat in terms of sheer simplicity and user-friendliness,” an anonymous poster wrote on Medium in June. “But as popular and easy as it may be, it is not without its limitations. Coinbase currently lists 4 different cryptocurrencies, but there’s a catch; you can only buy and sell cryptocurrencies for fiat — you cannot trade one cryptocurrency for another.”
Except now, with Coinbase Convert, you’ll be able to.
Since then, traders who have been looking for new ways to get into crypto will keep an eye on this new service which is going to continue to keep Coinbase in the limelight.
