Coinbase taps into burgeoning Irish crypto economy

US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has opened a new office in Dublin, Ireland.

Reports have been circulating that this is part of a contingency plan for when the UK leaves the EU. But the official line from the company, which has offices in London, is that it is simply expanding its presence to “ensure Coinbase is viewed as a trusted and easy-to-use cryptocurrency platform in Europe”.

The venture says that it explored a variety of cities across the EU and Dublin was the clear choice. The new office will help it tap into the city’s diverse talent pool and long-standing support for technological innovation, including a burgeoning cryptocurrency economy.

“Dublin is a talent hotspot for companies like Coinbase as they scale and internationalise critical businesses operations,” says Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland, the country’s inward investment agency. “We look forward to welcoming them into the Irish economy, and helping them access our talented pool of young professionals from the technology and financial services sectors.”

“I am delighted that Coinbase is opening an office in Dublin,” adds Ireland’s Minister for Financial Services and Insurance Michael D’Arcy T.D. “This decision highlights the competitive offering and attractiveness of Ireland for financial services.”

Ethereum first

Last week, we reported that Coinbase had listed its first Ethereum-based token, 0x (ZRX), on its professional trading platform Coinbase Pro.

The exchange is now accepting deposits for ZRX and, once sufficient liquidity is established, trading will begin on the ZRX/USD, ZRX/EUR and ZRX/BTC order books.

Coinbase says there will be four stages to the launch, which it will follow independently for each new order book.

In the first “transfer-only” stage, which started at 10am PT on 11th October, customers will be able to transfer ZRX into their Coinbase Pro account. Order books will be in transfer-only mode for at least 12 hours.

In the second “post-only” stage, customers can post limit orders but there will be no matches (completed orders). Order books will be in post-only mode for a minimum of one minute.

In the third “limit-only” stage, limit orders will start matching but customers will be unable to submit market orders. Order books will be in limit-only mode for a minimum of 10 minutes.

In the final stage, full trading services will be available, including limit, market and stop orders.

ZRX trading will be offered in most jurisdictions, but will not initially be available for residents of New York state. In addition, the token is not yet available through the coinbase.com website or its iOS and Android apps.

The listing came after Coinbase announced in March that it intended to add support for ERC-20 tokens on its exchange.