Coinbase Launches New Crypto Trading Pairs for British Pounds

Leading American cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has announced the launch of four new trading pairs for the British pounds (GBP) starting Friday, September 7, for the U.K.-based traders, the company mentioned in a blog post. (See also, Coinbase: What Is It and How Do You Use It?)

Five Cryptos Can be Traded Using GBP

At present, traders are allowed to trade GBP for bitcoin (BTC), the world’s most popular cryptocurrency. Additionally, the order book exchange will start offering trading services for GBP against four other leading virtual currencies, namely ethereum (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH), ethereum classic (ETC) and litecoin (LTC). The corresponding new trading pairs will be available under symbols ETH–GBP, BCH–GBP, ETC–GBP and LTC–GBP.

The trading service will be made available in a phased manner. The initial post-only phase will allow customers to post limit orders but there will be no matches (completed orders). Order books will be in post-only mode for at least 10 minutes. The second limit-only phase will start facilitating limit orders and their matching with no provision for market orders. Order books will be in limit-only mode for a minimum of 10 minutes. The third and final full trading phase will see availability of limit, market, and stop orders. The phased approach is being taken by the cryptocurrency exchange to make a fair assessment of the existence of a healthy and orderly market. In case the order book in any given phase fails to match the assessment criteria, the phase duration may be extended or trading may be suspended.

The launch of more GBP trading pairs builds upon the San Francisco, California-based digital currency exchange enabling direct deposits and withdrawals in GBP for the first time during last month through the country’s Faster Payments Scheme. It scores over the traditional method that usually takes multiple days for a bank transfer, as it involves converting GBP to euro to fund accounts. (See also, Coinbase Buys Paradex to Expand Crypto Offerings.)

Earlier in March, Coinbase secured the necessary e-money license from the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which allowed it to expand its services to the U.K. and 23 European markets. It remains unclear whether and if the upcoming brexit from the EU will impact the licensing requirements for Coinbase services in the region. (See also, Why Coinbase Bought a Broker-Dealer?)

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