Coinbase has announced its first expansion beyond the lucrative US market in a bid to make it easier to buy and sell bitcoin in Europe.
Coinbase is now available in 13 additional countries across Europe including Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Malta, Portugal, and Slovakia.
Both consumers and businesses in these countries can now buy bitcoin from Coinbase or sell to Coinbase using a European bank account, in Euros. For now this is a beta launch, with a limit of €500 per day on buys and sells. But Coinbase hope to raise the limit in the near future and the beta launch is available to 100% of customers.
Coinbase is eager to accelerate merchant adoption of bitcoin in Europe, and expand use of bitcoin in cross-border payments. By making bitcoin readily available to consumers, Coinbase is well on its way to realizing its aims.
“The ability to easily buy and sell bitcoin has been a really key factor in accelerating bitcoin adoption,” said Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of Coinbase. “This opens up the entire network to a larger degree.”
“Bitcoin is inherently international, and one of its great promises is it enables cross-border payments in a more efficient way. It now allows these cross-border payments to flow, and the entire network benefits from the fact that we happen to be the ones to launch it.”
Source: Coinbase
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