Coinbase appears to have launched new international payments service; promotes use of XRP & USDC

Coinbase, the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange, appears to have launched a new payments service for users to "send money internationally for free." Well, at least that's what a page on it website suggests.

According to this link, the service offers "zero fee" transactions for Coinbase-to-Coinbase transfers and "normal on-chain network" fees for transfers to third-party services. Coinbase notes that this service "is not a money remittance; rather, it is a cryptocurrency transaction with conversion into local currency after receipt" and that "in countries where Coinbase does not support the local currency, recipients need to transfer their XRP/USDC to an exchange that supports exchanges from XRP/USDC to local currency."

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To be clear, when The Block reached out to Coinbase, a company spokeswoman said the page was published in February. The point of which was to educate costumers similar to other education pages, such as this one.

While this service supports any cryptocurrency supported on Coinbase, the exchange states that "XRP and USDC may be better suited for smaller international money transfers due to their faster processing and lower transaction fees."

This post has been updated with comments from Coinbase about the curious link. 

About Author

Steven Zheng is a researcher for The Block. He joined The Block in August 2018. Steven graduated from St. John’s University with a degree in economics. Previously, he covered blockchain and crypto at Radicle, a startup analytics firm. He also had brief stints at Cheddar, a media startup, and Bowery Capital, a venture capital firm. He owns bitcoin. Follow Steven on Twitter at: @Dogetoshi

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