Coinbase has announced that it will be transferring its exchange customers to a new trading platform by next year, according to a company press release.
The new platform is called Coinbase Pro.
Coinbase customers currently use an exchange called GDAX, which is itself a rebranding of ‘Coinbase Exchange’ that was made in May 2016.
According to the press release, GDAX was designed for use by institutions, but the company has since discovered through its experience with GDAX that there are also individual customers.
The release says that Coinbase Pro is redesigned to be easier to use. Customers’ GDAX and Coinbase Pro accounts will be linked, so they will be able to see their balance in either automatically. Trading fees and security features remain the same between the platforms too.
All activity will be mirrored on both platforms until the 29th of June when everyone will be transferred to Coinbase Pro.
Dabid Farmer, General Manager of Coinbase Pro, said: “By enabling both investments and the utilization of cryptocurrency, we’re offering customers a unique opportunity to begin truly participating in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. For example, our vision is to give customers the ability to participate in services like staking and protocol voting that are distinct to crypto. As the decentralized ecosystem advances, we expect there will be many more opportunities for customers to interact with digital assets in new and unique ways.”
San Francisco-based Coinbase is one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, handling approximately $376 million in trading daily according to coinmarketcap.com.
In February it told its customers that it was going to be handing over their data to the US tax authority, or at least data pertaining to the richest among them, following the loss of a lawsuit concerning this issue.
It is currently facing at least two lawsuits – one from a customer who accuses the company of insider trading, and the other is concerned with the exchange keeping money that failed to be sent for whatever reason, instead of keeping it for itself.
Recently it acquired a couple of other businesses as part of its expansion plans.
(Photo: Founder of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt, London 2014)
