Coinbase expands USDC trading to 85 countries across the globe

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is expanding trading of the dollar-pegged stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) to 85 countries worldwide.

The firm said it now offers crypto-to-crypto trading for USDC in the selected countries on both its retail site Coinbase.com and its Coinbase Pro service, which is targeted more at traders rather than buy-and-hold retail investors.

The firm touted the strengths of the USDC stablecoin in an announcement blog post, saying that it offers a stable store of value and can be sent “near-instantly” around the globe.

The post goes on to say that “unlike other cryptocurrencies, each USDC is backed by $1 USD, with monthly transparency audits showing 100% USD backing”.

USDC was launched last autumn by a group of firms including crypto finance start-up Circle. Coinbase suggested that USDC could also help in countries where the national fiat currency is unstable.

Targeting inflation-hit nations

The exchange said that “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”.

Coinbase also further committed to providing more fiat-to-crypto onramps to enable more people to make use of the stable asset.

In the same announcement, the firm provided an update on the total number of nations it now serves. A year ago only 32 countries had access to its services, but that number now stands at 103, with 50 additional countries announced today.

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