January 2017 the CEO of Coinbase Brian Armstrong made the following announcement on the Coinbase Blog...
"As we kick off 2017, I think it’s important for Coinbase and GDAX to continue supporting more crypto currencies. We are no longer just a Bitcoin company. We are a digital currency company."
While this information isn't new, I want to take a moment to analyze Coinbase's progress so far and some of the progress made in supporting other Alt coins.
I believe the progress being made at Coinbase is a good metric to determine the advancement of Cryptocurrencies in the "main stream".
If you are unfamiliar with Coinbase and GDAX...
"Coinbase is a secure online platform for buying, selling, transferring, and storing digital currency. Our mission is to create an open financial system for the world and to be the leading global brand for helping people convert digital currency into and out of their local currency."
"GDAX offers institutions and professionals the ability to trade a variety of digital currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and more on a regulated U.S. based exchange."
GDAX is the re-branded Coinbase Exchange
Coinbase Timeline
2012 - Coinbase is founded
2015 - launched a U.S.-based bitcoin exchange for professional traders called Coinbase Exchange.
2016 March - listed by Richtopia at number 2 in the list of 100 Most Influential Blockchain Organizations.
2016 May - rebranded coinbase exchange GDAX offering trading of Ether
2016 May - Coinbase extends support for Ether on retail exchange
2017 Jan - CEO of Coinbase Brian Armstrong announces plans to support Alt coins
2017 March - Receives NYC Regulator’s License to Offer Litecoin and Ethereum also receives approval for the Coinbase Shift Card
As you can see Coinbase has been making slow and steady improvements and advancements in the digital currency industry. This is the type of progress you want to see if you are a cryptocurrency advocate like myself. Quick = fad ,slow and measured = a trend.
CEO of Coinbase Brian Armstrong goes on to say...
"As the most popular retail exchange (Coinbase) and institutional exchange in the U.S. (GDAX), we want to make it easy for people to use all types of digital currencies.
Our goal going forward is to not play favorites, or support one digital currency more than any other, but simply to make it easy for customers to buy and sell whatever digital currencies they want.
In this way, we can help support growth of the entire digital currency industry."
The list of currencies to be made available has not been released yet, although we can be certain from recent updates that Lite Coin is probably on the fast track.
I encourage you to read this post about the announcements in NYS as well as my predictions for the future.
Coinbase Ether, Lite Coin and Shift
As a Steemit Blogger and advocate I would like to see Coinbase support Steem.
I will be preparing a letter to Coinbase this week in order to encourage Steem support.
If anyone would like a copy of my email in order to send one themselves I will make it public.
What coins would you like to see supported?
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinbase
https://blog.coinbase.com/completing-our-transition-to-becoming-a-digital-currency-company-not-just-a-bitcoin-company-6bcc44ca40ee
