Coinbase has found a new partner in Barclays UK office to service their 12 million users, many of whom are located within the United Kingdom.
Coinbase’s CEO said they “believe that this is an important step towards our commitment to making cryptocurrency accessible to everyone”. Previously, UK Coinbase customers had to rely on using a bank in Estonia that charged heavy exchange rates. The new partnership will start with a small group of institutional users and then expand to all UK customers.
Coinbase was also issued an e-money license by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority), which allows them to extend their services to 23 countries within the EU. Barclays previously inquired last year with fintech firms and the FCA about incorporating Bitcoin into the financial sector. The partnership is a stark contrast to the increasing trend of banks in the UK and EU closing their doors to cryptocurrencies because of regulation fears.
New era in Europe
London is currently considered the financial capital of Europe, but the decision to leave the European Union has lead to many banks debating about leaving London and setting up a larger presence in other EU countries. Banks fear that the EU will place burdensome regulations on UK marketplaces and thus heavily impede their operations and revenues. Negotiations are still ongoing, but it can already be said, using Ricardo’s comparative advantage theories that any trade restrictions will hurt both UK and EU citizens; the end consumer.
Barclays, a UK headquartered bank, is one of the major banks that is planning to only move a minor amount of operations out of the UK. Their partnership with Coinbase to expand into cryptocurrencies is at first seen as taking advantage of emerging technology and currencies to increase their revenues. However, upon a second look when superimposed with the political climate of Brexit reveals that the bank may be hedging their bets of EU imposed restrictions against UK banking and finance trade with other EU countries. If EU regulations become too costly to consumers of both political blocs, then this could drive even more consumers towards cryptocurrencies for the financial savings they offer. As consumers pick the money that serves their wishes the best, they will go through Coinbase and Barclays to exchange their Euro and Pound Sterling into cryptocurrencies.
Dash reveals the consumer service of crypto
Dash has been constantly working on development, user, and merchant improvements that may not yield immediate returns in the crypto exchange rate price, but it does slowly improve the blockchain and user base. This solidifies the foundation to support a stronger Dash community, usage, and minimizes volatility in the future. These goals align with business theories that the products and businesses that constantly strive to satisfy the desires of the end consumer, will eventually find success.
If the EU does go down the road of stronger cross-boarder regulations on banking and financial services because of Brexit and ends up harming UK and EU citizens, those same citizens will be looking even harder for alternatives. Dash can provide that alternative since it is building better user interfaces to make crypto easier to use along with building better infrastructure to handle the increased traffic. In fact, Dash has already begun to make significant pushes to become involved in the United Kingdom.
