On July 2, Coinbase announced that it has officially opened its first VIP service, Coinbase Custody, to institutional investors.
Coinbase Custody product director Sam McIngvale said in a statement that Coinbase Custody accepted its first cryptocurrency deposit last week before the official launch. Sam McIngvale said: "In the next few weeks, a series of world-class customers, including leading cryptocurrency hedge funds, exchanges, ICO teams, will continue to grow our customer base."
Impact on price and volume
In the past few days, the cryptocurrency market has witnessed a large influx of new funds. According to Coinbase's announcement, we can infer that institutional investors have started to enter since last week.
In the past 24 hours, Bitcoin's trading volume has increased significantly, peaking around 9:30 am EST. Interestingly, this is about the same as the opening of the American Stock Exchange. As trade tensions heat up, global stock markets have turned to bearish sentiment. The growth of Bitcoin trading volume is shown in the following figure:
Additional plan
Coinbase Custody's statement also includes an expansion plan for the company's other businesses.
Coinbase Custody is currently only open to institutions in the US and Europe, but the company plans to open the service in Asia by the end of the year.
The statement also reiterated that the company hopes to open more token transactions. Although no specific currency was announced, they indicated that they would provide regular updates. According to previous reports by CCN, Coinbase recently announced plans to gradually launch Ethereum Classic (ETC) on its platform. In addition, Coinbase Custody mentioned the hot wallet and management options for organizations.
Since this is the first VIP service for institutional investors, it marks the beginning of an interesting pilot phase. The company is ready to wait for developments and listen to customer feedback.
Actively communicate with regulators
According to CCN, Coinbase has been developing a multi-dimensional investment tool for institutional investors and hedge funds. Coinbase Custody is one of a combination of tools, including secure storage, agency-level brokers, and more.
While developing this new service, Coinbase is also actively working with regulators to obtain licenses to conduct business at the institutional level. In order to be directly under the supervision of the SEC, Coinbase Custody also cooperates with Electronic Transaction Clearing (ETC).
The launch of Coinbase Custody is the end result of new software development and improved relationships with regulators.