Coinbase has arranged a deal with Barclays to make Bitcoin trading easier for British residents.
This news comes after Coinbase gained approval from the FCA, UK’s financial regulatory body, last week.
Over the last few months several British banks have started to refuse working with Coinbase and several banks have stopped their customers withdrawing funds to their UK bank accounts.
Barclays are one of the only British banks that allow payments from Coinbase and payments are paid by SEPA, (Single Euro Payments Area). It normally takes 1-2 working days for payments to reach user’s bank accounts, it can sometimes take a lot longer than this, it's also a complicated process.
After Barclays have finalised this payment deal with Coinbase, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchange platforms worldwide, customers will have access to the UK’s Faster Payments service and they will be able to withdraw funds to their Barclays bank accounts on the same day.
According to recent reports the UK is one of Coinbase’s biggest markets, therefore it makes sense for Coinbase to be on good terms with UK banks & building societies and arrange similar deals to help their business grow.
In my opinion this is very bullish news, I’ve taken withdrawals from my Coinbase account before and trust me it was an very long-winded process.
I hope moving forwards other banks and building societies in the UK will follow suit, it surely benefits both parties. Coinbase will be providing a better service to it’s customers with the same day payments and Barclays will have access to a new market base.
Links:
Coinbase FCA Announcement: https://blog.coinbase.com/major-strides-in-europe-coinbase-is-the-first-crypto-exchange-to-obtain-a-uk-bank-account-144f0e8ed7ce
Faster Payments/Barclays Announcement: http://uk.businessinsider.com/coinbase-uk-gets-fca-licence-access-to-faster-payments-with-barclays-2018-3