Coinbase, a popular Bitcoin exchange and online wallet provider, has announced the launch of its Instant Exchange. This new service will allow Coinbase users to send and receive Bitcoin payments instantly. Coinbase says that the Instant Exchange will protect people from Bitcoin price volatility, since they will be able to complete transactions so quickly.
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From Coinbase’s official announcement:
“Coinbase has long offered merchants the ability to automatically convert received bitcoin into their local currency, and now Instant Exchange is available to anyone with a local currency wallet.”
The Instant Exchange is broken down into two new features: Instant Exchange Send and Instant Exchange Recieve. The Send service lets users send Bitcoin and pay for it with local currency on the same page. Upon using the Send feature, users will be greeted with a form where the designate a recipient address, the amount of Bitcoin they wish to send, and a drop-down menu where they will chose their fiat wallets. Users will also be able to attach a note to their transactions.
The Receive feature allows users to receive Bitcoin and sell it almost immediately; Coinbase will initiate a sell order in the background as soon as the Bitcoin is received in the users’ wallets. To enable the Instant Receive feature, customers can click the “Instant Exchange” link in their local currency wallets, revealing a Bitcoin address. This address is the user’s Instant Receive address, and any Bitcoin sent to it will be automatically sold on the Coinbase Exchange.
Coinbase users that transact with United States Dollars, Euros, and the Great British Pound are able to access the Instant Exchange immediately. No word was made in the announcement regarding a timeline for when other local currencies will receive Instant Exchange access.
This announcement comes a few months after Coinbase launched its full exchange, which advertised itself as the first fully compliant Bitcoin exchange. Coinbase has licensing in several US states, and is either awaiting approval or waiting for further regulatory clarity in other states.
Will you use Coinbases new Instant Exchange feature? Let us know in the comments below!
Image: Coinbase
