Coinbase Completes GBP Rollout for UK Customers

Leading cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has successfully completed its GBP Rollout for UK Customers. Coinbase’s GBP support represents a major step forward in legitimizing cryptocurrency trading in European markets.

“I’m pleased to announce that all UK customers now have the ability to buy and sell using using GBP on Coinbase, Coinbase Pro and Coinbase Prime,” writes Zeeshan Feroz, CEO of Coinbase’s UK division.

UK customers using Coinbase Pro and Coinbase Prime will now for the first time be able to purchase major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum without needing to convert funds from British Pounds to Euros and vice versa, thereby avoiding exchange rates and additional fees for foreign currency transactions. Account transfers are estimated to take an average of 30 minutes.

Coinbase’s UK rollout has been in the works for nearly six months. The San Francisco-based exchange acquired an e-money license by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in March, which was shortly followed by an announcement that Coinbase would be the first crypto-exchange to support the UK’s Faster Payments Scheme. Later that month, Coinbase announced that it had acquired a bank account with the UK’s largest bank, Barclays. The deal marked the first major partnership between a UK bank and a cryptocurrency exchange.

Another cryptocurrency exchange seeking to pave the way for British Pound trading pairs is Binance. The company announced in June that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with officials from Jersey, an island off the coast of Britain, with the aim of launching a crypto to pound exchange.

Suggested Reading : Learn how to transfer Bitcoin from Coinbase to Binance here.

“With the set up of the fiat exchange here, there will be a lot of interest from the blockchain universe looking at Jersey. We definitely want to bring Binance Labs into this region and invest out of here,” said Zhou Wei, chief finance officer at Binance. The company’s involvement in GBP trading has since slowed, leaving Coinbase the clear winner in the race into the UK market.

Binance has also been actively trying to find a way into the US market, where Coinbase currently holds a virtual monopoly on cryptocurrency trading, but regulatory barriers have made it nearly impossible for new entrants into the space.

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