Coinbase gives green light to Apple Pay and says Google Pay is next

Coinbase has just launched facilities for Apple Pay, and says it will soon be opening up for Google Pay.

From today, iPhone users will be able to purchase leading cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum with a Visa or Mastercard debit card that’s linked to Apple Pay.

Previously, users could only buy cryptocurrencies on Coinbase using Apple Pay if they had a Coinbase-branded debit card. The expansion of its services will now enable a vast majority of Coinbase customers to purchase cryptocurrencies due to the popularity of Visa and Mastercard services across global markets.

For Android users, Coinbase said it will integrate Visa and Mastercard payments to Google Pay later this year.

The integration with the payment services bolsters Coinbase’s plans to increase its “global footprint” and expand into more territories.

Coinbase also noted that users can now use funds from a connected PayPal account on Apple Pay.

The announcement comes a month after Coinbase integrated Apple and Google services with its Coinbase debit card, which allows users to “pay” with cryptocurrencies by converting their existing assets into USD for purchases. The Coinbase debit card was launched in October 2020 and has proven itself popular due to incentives such as cashback rewards of up to 4% when using the card.

Additionally, Coinbase also announced that customers will be able to cash out large amounts of up to $100,000 instantly via Real Time Payments (RTP) – a payments system that is designed for instant, same-day transfers between financial institutions. Previously, withdrawals using ACH on Coinbase could take up to three days to process.

Coinbase noted that it was the “first crypto exchange to offer instant cash-outs via Real Time Payments (RTP)” and expanded on the benefits of the withdrawal method, saying that “RTP lets you get your money in seconds, 24/7, without the high costs of uncapped fees”, with “no limits on the number of times you can cash out per day”.

The exchange is also acquiring Zabo – a crypto data aggregator that enables financial applications and platforms to connect with crypto exchanges, wallets, and protocols via an API.

The platform provides an API that connects with users’ crypto accounts on an exchange and tracks asset balances and transaction history. The most notable use of the platform is to calculate tax payments, which has become a hot topic in the crypto industry following the increase in potential regulation facing both exchanges and consumers.