Coinbase eyes Europe and brings subscription service to Ireland

19 May 2023

Image: © burdun/Stock.adobe.com

The crypto exchange reportedly plans to expand this service across Europe, while its regulatory tensions in the US continue to mount.

Coinbase has updated its subscription service and expanded access to Ireland, as the crypto exchange eyes European expansion.

The subscription service – called Coinbase One – is also available in the US, the UK and Germany, with plans to expand to more countries “in the coming months”. Techcrunch reports that the service will be rolled out to 31 European countries.

Coinbase claims its subscription service offers benefits such as no trading charges and a dedicated support team for customers. The service costs roughly $30 per month and comes with a 30-day free trial.

Coinbase One is also being given new features such as “exclusive benefits” from Coinbase partners. These benefits include 90 days of crypto market insights through Messari, with more benefits planned in the future from partners Alto IRA, CoinTracker and Blockworks’ Permissionless.

“For frequent traders, Coinbase One offers members opportunities to execute more trades on hundreds of assets without worrying about trading fees on every transaction,” Coinbase said.

The subscription service also offers rewards for “staking”, which is when a user pledges some of their crypto assets for a certain period of time to support the operation of a blockchain.

This is known as the proof-of-stake method and has been described as a way to remove the need for energy-intensive mining. Ethereum completed its long-awaited merge last year to become more energy efficient.

Shifting focus to Europe

This is one of several moves being made by Coinbase to expand further into the European crypto market, as its regulatory tensions in the US continue to mount.

Earlier this month, Coinbase launched an international crypto exchange offering cryptocurrency derivatives for users outside of the US.

This followed the crypto company taking legal action against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), compelling the regulator to create clearer rules regarding crypto securities.

The SEC recently asked a judge to deny Coinbase’s request to compel the agency to respond, Bloomberg reports.

The EU made a significant step last month in its efforts to govern and safeguard the crypto industry. The EU Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislation, which creates a set of common rules around the supervision of crypto assets and cryptocurrencies.

10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.

Leigh Mc Gowran is a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com