Coinbase Now Offers Bitcoin-Backed Loans To US Customers
- The feature was added after users of the exchange expressed their desire for bitcoin-backed low-interest loans.
- Eligible customers from 17 states, including Alaska, Florida, and Texas, can now join a waitlist to receive early access later this year.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong at TechCrunch’s Disrupt SF conference, September 8, 2018. TechCrunch
On August 13, the Product Manager of Coinbase, Thorsten Jaeckel, announced that the exchange will offer bitcoin-backed loans to customers, allowing them to borrow up to 30% of their Bitcoin holdings in cash with capped credit lines at $20,000 per customer.
According to the announcement, US clients will be able to receive their loans in two to three days after filling out a brief application without having to go through a credit check. This way, Coinbase can now offer its customers secure access to cash, while giving them even more control over their assets.
“We hear from customers that they need cash for expenses like home renovations or car repairs, but they do not want to prematurely sell their crypto, or take out high-interest loans that could come with 20%+ APR,” said Jaeckel. “With portfolio-backed loans on Coinbase, customers can borrow cash quickly from their Coinbase accounts. No need to fill out a long application or go through a credit check. Customers can simply sign up with a few taps and get the cash in their accounts within 2–3 days.”
Coinbase is known as one of the safest web wallets, keeping almost 99% of its assets in an inaccessible offline cold storage. The company follows strict regulatory policy and diligently complies with all international and US laws. As of this moment, the new feature is available in 17 states:
- Alaska
- Arkansas
- Connecticut
- Florida
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- North Carolina
- Oregon
- Texas
- Virginia
- Nebraska
- Utah
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
That said, the San Francisco-based exchange is said to be pursuing licenses in other states and countries in order to expand its lending services. In the announcement, it was also stated that a waitlist opened Wednesday afternoon, which allows clients to sign up for loans effective later this year.
- A little over $13 million in altcoins were sent to crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase in the past 24 hours, which is in accordance with a September court order.
- The court ordered a phased liquidation process, which allows the bankruptcy estate to sell $3.4 billion worth of digital assets over a certain period of time.
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- Coinbase’s Base blockchain was made available to the public on Wednesday, featuring over 100 dApps and services as part of its ecosystem.
- In order to show its capabilities and promote its mainnet partners, Base has also launched an event called “Onchain Summer” that will allow users to mint exclusive NFTs on the network.
- During an interview with FT, CEO Brian Armstrong said that before the lawsuit a SEC staff member had said that all crypto except BTC was security, and should be delisted.
- When asked how he came to that conclusion, the SEC staff member reportedly said “we’re not going to explain it to you, you need to delist every asset other that Bitcoin”.