Bitcoin Bank Comes Closer As Coinbase U.K. Adds Sterling

Story by: Billy Bambrough

The prospect of a fully fledged U.K. bitcoin bank took a step closer to reality yesterday with the launch of pound sterling support for San Francisco-based crypto exchange Coinbase.

The move, designed to make it easier for Coinbase customers in the UK to deposit and withdraw pound sterling and use it to directly buy and sell cryptocurrency, was described by Coinbase’s U.K. chief executive Zeeshan Feroz as “progress towards becoming a primary bank account” for its users.

Sterling support will mean Coinbase users get access to the U.K.’s Faster Payments system, meaning same day deposits and withdrawals, with most transfers going through almost immediately.

Customers in the UK will no longer have to convert funds from pounds to euros and vice versa to cash in or out and there will be no more exchange rates or SEPA fees — which sometimes could hit €10 per transaction.

Sterling support on Coinbase is now live for a few of its customers and it will be rolling it out to the rest in coming weeks.

It’s thought that access to Faster Payments will be most useful to the company’s trader and institutional accounts, allowing investors to enter and exit their positions more quickly.

Coinbase, which picked up an e-money license in the U.K. in March, previously partnered with local bank Barclays for its client deposits and withdrawals.