Coinbase is a popular online cryptocurrency exchange based in San Francisco, California. Coinbase was one of the earliest cryptocurrency exchanges to emerge in the industry and has since flourished especially in the United States and Europe where blockchain revolution initially started. It was started back in June 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam and later Ehrsam continued it on its own.
Cryptocurrency exchanges are online trading websites where the public can buy, sell, send and receive cryptocurrencies. They have online deposit accounts called wallets and users can easily deposit or buy cryptocurrencies directly.
Disclaimer: Investments through cryptocurrency exchanges should be done diligently with its risks in mind. Cryptocurrencies are not legal tender and their prices can be extremely volatile.
Today it is one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the world with trading options available in 32 countries while further 190 countries have simple wallet operations available including sending/storing Bitcoin on their online wallets.
Countries where the service is completely restricted include China, Cuba, Crimea, Iran, Israel, and a few other countries. The complete list of supported and unsupported countries can be seen on coinbase.com
Cryptocurrencies can be traded with various national currencies including EUR and USD on the Coinbase platform. The complete list is as follows:
Due to ongoing legal issues with the New York state government, Coinbase services are restricted in the state. Most of the popular cryptocurrencies are supported on the platform including BTC, ETH, XRP, LTC, BCH, EOS, XLM, ETC and so forth. The US state of Hawaii is not yet supported by Coinbase.
Coinbase popular around the world because of its strict regimented following of the rules and better transparency figures than the rest of the cryptocurrency exchanges which often hide and possibly manipulate their data. But, as a consequence, Coinbase’s reach is quite limited around the world, especially in the Asia pacific region.
Cryptocurrency trading is mostly done via mobile devices although some users still have a desktop approach to trading as it offers more analytic functionality with the use of multiple screens.
To start trading on Coinbase, go to the play store/app store and install Coinbase’s official app. Be aware – there might be some counterfeit apps, be sure to select the right one. Coinbase Android is the app developer for Android.
Once the app has been installed, open it and here you can see the general outline of the trading app. The app doesn’t allow screenshots so another mobile was used to take the pictures of the process. Tap on “Get Started” and a Sign up window appears.
Fill in the details of the Sign up option below. Only proceed with the legal full name. Once the process is complete, a confirmation mail will be sent to the email account.
Got to your email account and follow the confirmation link to activate your account. Choose a reasonably strong password to go with the account.
Once the account email has been confirmed, you will be asked to enter the email and password again on the app. Then press sign in.
Once you have signed in the Coinbase exchange, different set of options will appear on the app. Here is how the home screen will look like:
if you want to buy bitcoin with your credit/debit card, you will need to tap “Get Started” and add payment method. If your country doesn’t have this option available, there will be an apologetic note saying fiat option is not available in your area. Users in approved countries can proceed to add their credit/debit cards and then make their first purchase.
If you want to purchase Bitcoin with Cash, go to the “Prices” option in the bottom menu and you will see a list of crypto options available. Tap on Bitcoin.
Once you have tapped on Bitcoin, you can buy and sell Bitcoin for Cash. The Cash will remain electronically on the exchange until you need it out of the system and then you can proceed to cash it out to your credit/debit account.
To deposit cryptocurrencies directly to your account from another wallet, use the “Accounts” section.
Users can choose a cryptocurrency and view its latest graphs for price trends as well as its entire market history.
The home section has other useful information as well. Scroll down and traders can see all the latest popular news emerging from crypto circles. They include posts from The Block and Forbes.
Other options on the bottom menu include Accounts. Tap on it and you will see:
This option shows all of your crypto holdings in your respective wallets. The number of cryptocurrencies available in each region is different depending on the regulations.
The last option on the bottom menu is settings. Tap on it and various app settings can be made available to you:
The settings are extremely important part of any Coinbase account as it gives users the ability to link their payment sources, increase security, add related phone numbers and change native currency as needed.
Coinbase is a straightforward popular cryptocurrency trading option that has proved useful for many traders around the world. While its security is not foolproof unlike Bitcoin’s it is still a secure option for many. However, its limited availability around the globe can give some issues to users so always see what kind of functionality the app can offer before starting trading on it.
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