US residents looking forward to have a Coinbase card can get their hopes up as Coinbase CEO Brain Armstrong confirmed a US launch albeit without a date.
Coinbase CEO Brain Armstrong confirmed in an AMA on YouTube that the Coinbase card will be available in the US. But he did not reveal the exact date of launch.
The Coinbase card is currently available in the UK and allows users to easily exchange their crypto assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC) to GBP. Through the card, users can make seamless withdrawals or pay for items.
We’re excited to announce Coinbase Card, a Visa debit card that lets UK customers spend crypto as effortlessly as the money in their bank. Available today in the UK, and in the EU in the coming months. We'll look to expand internationally later this year. https://t.co/Yf36PL57S8 pic.twitter.com/2LJRj49Y60
— Coinbase (@coinbase) April 11, 2019
Now issued by Paysafe, the new Coinbase debit card is the answer to the exit of Coinbase’s first Bitcoin debit card caused by the recent shutdown of its provider, the Shift Card.
Armstrong said:
“I cannot give a date, but we’ve been really excited to see the amount of excitement and demand for that in the UK. Some of you may remember: I think it was back in 2014 or 2015, we did a partnership with Shift Payments. They released a card that would automatically debit from your Coinbase account. That worked in the United States. The numbers were always pretty small, but we saw it grow every year. I would certainly be interested to do another attempt like that in the United States.”
He added that the company sees it necessary to make available real-world utility of cryptocurrencies, and that the Coinbase card will play a role in helping the cryptoeconomy grow.
Meanwhile, Armstrong gave updates about their plans of selling crypto asses in Canada, saying:
“We are really focused in adding more assets and launching in more countries. We had some issues there with our payment partner, so we had to reset that and try to find another one. This is one of those things. I just kind of want to announce it right now, but I haven’t spoken to my team yet about that so I can’t. They don’t like when I do that, but yes, we are working on Canada.”
The CEO also shared that the company considers adding margin trading to Coinbase Pro, calling it one of the highly requested features.
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