• Coinbase Partners Bitpanda as part of its international expansion strategy.

• The plan is to directly access banks and fintechs seeking to offer digital assets to customers.

Crypto exchange Coinbase announces a partnership agreement with crypto exchange and trading platform Bitpanda as part of its efforts to connect to more European banks seeking to offer digital assets to their customers. According to reports, Coinbase would leverage the Technology Solutions of Bitpanda to access these banks and fintechs. 

Guillaume Chatain, Coinbase head of institutional sales EMEA and APAC commented on this:

At Coinbase, we’re working hard to update the financial system by building trusted products that expand the utility and adoption of crypto because we believe crypto and blockchain technology can increase economic freedom and opportunities around the world.

The crypto market has made negative impressions on regulators following the Terra ecosystem failure and the FTX drama that sent the prices plummeting. Regardless, its adoption keeps rising. According to BitPanda COO Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad, banks are exploring ways to offer digital assets to customers to meet up with the increasing demand.

Coinbase has a liquidity venue with their exchange and they have the custody setup. But they don’t have the whole infrastructure middle layer that a partner can integrate and offer crypto traded and bought on Coinbase exchange and stored on Coinbase Custody to their end customers.

The high institutional interest is said to be linked to the recent approval of the long-awaited Markets in Crypto Assets regulation by the European Parliament. This is expected to take effect in Mid-2024. This law is intended to protect consumers and promote financial stability. Shortly after the vote, Coinbase tweeted that organizations would now have the confidence to invest and grow in the region.

Coinbase continues its global expansion

As of now, several banks, neo-banks, and fintech platforms are already on the list of Bitpanda’s crypto connectivity. These include Australian-based traditional lender Raiffeisenlandesbank, French money app Lydia, European mobile bank N26, etc. 

Enzersdorfer-Konrad further stated:

Banks can see the data on their payment transactions and how much of their customers’ funds have been flowing out to crypto companies. They understand how much business they are missing out on, and also how much more of their customer base would do that business, if they had enough trust in the process.

Coinbase was recently reported to have opened a local bank transfer in Singapore to enable customers to seamlessly move funds from their bank accounts to make it easier for digital asset purchases. Coinbase’s country director for Singapore Hassan Ahmed, disclosed that the move was part of its international expansion strategy. It is also important to note that Coinbase has received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to offer payment services. 

The company has also sealed a deal with Brazilian payment solution providers Ebanx and Pix. This is to make it easier for users to purchase crypto using the Brazilian real, and also enable deposits and withdrawals from Coinbase accounts. According to reports, Coinbase is planning to establish other crypto exchanges outside the US.

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