Coinbase Commerce eclipses $50 million in transactions

Coinbase Commerce, the exchange’s online retail service, announced today it has facilitated $50 million in transactions since launching last year. With 10,000 monthly users, the platform is on a growth trajectory, homing in on early adopters with plans to innovate, according to Justin O’Brien, the product lead for the platform.

“It has been quite steady growth,” O'Brien said. “This quarter has been quite great.”

The app launched in February 2018, allowing merchants to accept multiple cryptocurrencies as payment. 

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Coinbase Commerce utilizes a different strategy and framework from other crypto payment services like BitPay or Flexa, O'Brien said. Specifically, it boasts an open system in which any firm with a cryptocurrency wallet can pay participating merchants whereas other providers accept crypto on behalf of customers and then pay merchants in fiat. 

“We have less transaction cost because it is truly peer-to-peer,” said O’Brien.

The firm has also recently begun supporting USDC payments. Support of USDC, Coinbase and Circle's stablecoin, could open the door to any other ERC-20 token going forward, although for now, it is limited to USDC.

“It is an exciting development,” said O’Brien. “It could help with the adoption of USDC and ER20 tokens.”

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Aislinn Keely is a reporter on The Block's policy team holding down the legal beat. She covers court decisions, bankruptcies, regulatory actions and other key moments in the legal sphere, putting them in context for the wider crypto industry. Before The Block, she lent her voice to the NPR affiliate WFUV and helmed Fordham University's student newspaper. Send tips or thoughts on all things policy and legal to [email protected] or follow her on Twitter for updates @AislinnKeely.