Coinbase, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has announced an exciting new update for its users.
The exchange’s roughly 73 million verified users will now be able to make information about their crypto holdings public.
Coinbase Goes Social
Senior product manager Rishav Mukherji announced this update in a blog post on Friday. Coinbase is making some social-networking additions to its app. One of which is a share button that enables traders to share around their assets, such as price changes or portfolio allocations. The users can now share their allocation percentages — not balances — on social media.
Related Reading | How A Coinbase User Lost $11.6 Million 10 Minutes After Bitcoin Purchase
This update is part of the exchange’s effort to help its customers better understand crypto.
“We want to empower the cryptoeconomy to share knowledge and information and learn from each other,” said Mukherji.
Mukherji also added that Coinbase will launch new ways for users to share their trade details in the coming weeks.
This social media integration is a new move for Coinbase. Although, exchanges like BitMex have been running leaderboards showing their most profitable all-time traders. The users also post their positions on social media, which may subsequently attract more users.
Total crypto market at $2.82 Trillion | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap from TradingView.com
Coinbase’s new updates may also be a way of drawing more users to its platform. This week, Coinbase shared that the number of monthly transacting users on its platform reduced in Q3 this year. The number dropped from 8.8 million in the second quarter to 73 million. Nevertheless, the exchange now expects between 8 million and 8.5 million monthly transacting users. This is more than the previous forecast of 5.5 million to 8 million.
The exchange, however, has also started looking beyond crypto and towards NFTs.
Journeying Into NFTs
Coinbase is working to diversify its revenue, and NFT trading is high on its list. Earlier this week, the exchange’s co-founder Brian Armstrong said as much. He remarked that the market for NFTs could be as big or even be bigger than the company’s cryptocurrency business.
Related Reading | Coinbase Announces NFT Marketplace
The company plans to open its own NFT marketplace very soon. The aim is to give users a one-stop experience as opposed to being a traditional marketplace. They get to make purchases, store their holdings, and also, have the social media experience on the same platform. Users will be able to showcase their NFTs on the Coinbase site and let others follow their profile and receive updates.
“We are very excited about NFTs, this is going to be a very large area for crypto in the future, and it already is today,” said Armstrong.
Since its NFT marketplace announcement in October, Coinbase has received more than 2.5 million sign-up requests.
Featured image by Financial Times, Chart from TradingView.com
