Coinbase Makes Trading Easier for High-Volume Customers in Asia and Europe

On Tuesday (January 22nd), cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced the expansion of several important services to select customers outside the United States.

Here are the updates announced today:

• From today, “high-volume Coinbase Pro and Prime customers in Asia and Europe will be able to use cross-border wire transfers to fund their Coinbase accounts.”
• “Select Coinbase Prime customers globally” will get access to Coinbase’s US and European over-the-counter (OTC) trading desks, as well as access to Coinbase Custody.

Before we continue, it is worth noting that Coinbase Prime is Coinbase’s “professional trading platform for institutional clients,” while Coinbase Pro is Coinbase’s trading platform for experienced or professoinal investors/traders.

International Wire Transfers

Coinbase says that for clients “in countries where fiat rails are not yet available,” it will now “support inbound and outbound SWIFT transfers from non-US bank accounts,” which mean that “Coinbase customers in many countries throughout Asia and Europe” will for the first time have “access Coinbase’s deep pool of crypto liquidity.”

OTC Trading

Coinbase says that its “OTC desk is agency only,” i.e. it will never trade “on a principal basis or against” its clients. It  also wants to remind you that it “never trades on a proprietary basis.” The lucky Coinbase Prime customers who get approved “will be able to execute large volume trades with minimal price slippage.”

Coinbase Custody

Coinbase is now offering Coinbase Custody to approved high-volume Coinbase Prime customers in Asia and Europe. According to Coinbase, 

Comments From Coinbase Executives

Andrew Robinson, Coinbase’s Head of Institutional Sales and Trading in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, told Forbes:

“The OTC trading desk, which went live in the U.S. in November and then in the U.K. just before Christmas, has been well received so far. This latest upgrade means Coinbase customers outside the U.S. are now able to trade without a domestic U.S. bank account—something we think is going to make a big difference for our trading volumes.”

Featured Image Courtesy of Coinbase