The major US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announces that they are looking to dethrone Tether (USDT) by expanding trading of their own US dollar-pegged stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC), to 85 nations around the world.
Today we expand USD Coin trading to 85 countries across the globe. This helps accelerate the global adoption of crypto trading and enables access to a stable store of value. Read more: https://t.co/1iH1c3FIoi pic.twitter.com/jrJWc9ASbN
— Coinbase (@coinbase) May 14, 2019
Coinbase announced the USDC expansion in a blog post on Tuesday, stating that the stablecoin now offers crypto-to-crypto trading on both the Coinbase.com retail site and the Coinbase Pro exchange.
Advantages of USDC Over Cash or Fiat Currency
The firm explains the strengths of USDC in the blog post, stating that this expansion will help accelerate the global adoption of crypto trading while also offering nations who suffer from inflation with a stable store of value.
They also note that USDC can be transferred near-instantly around the globe, can be used in dapps, and is backed 1:1 by the US dollar with monthly transparency audits.
Moreover, Coinbase thinks the USDC’s global expansion will help in countries like Venezuela, Argentina, and Uzbekistan whose national fiat currencies are unstable.
Coinbase said:
“For new customers in countries like Argentina and Uzbekistan, where consumer prices are expected to inflate by 10–20% in 2020, stablecoins like USDC could provide an opportunity to protect against inflation.”
With the above statement in mind, Coinbase says they are committed to increasing the number of fiat-to-crypto on-ramps so that people can be exposed to Coinbase’s stablecoin asset.
Final Thoughts
Coinbase continues to expand and provide services that benefit the cryptocurrency ecosystem in a big way. A year ago, the exchange was only available to customers in 32 countries, and today they serve customers across 103 countries, 50 of which they just announced.
All in all, if Coinbase can replace Tether’s USDT stablecoin, the crypto ecosystem will be better off as USDC is 100% backed by the US dollar while USDT was recently proven to only be backed by 74%.
What cryptocurrency exchange do you think has done the most to expand and grow the crypto ecosystem? Let us know what you think in the comment section below.
