Major Banks now Offer Coinbase Account Support

As cryptocurrencies and digital banking continue to gain influence, major banks begin rolling out Coinbase account support.

Fintech and the industry around it (including platforms like Coinbase) seem to be growing at an exponential rate.

Earlier this month, Edgy Labs reported that the total market cap for cryptocurrency stands at: $48,567,465,937 USD.

In fact, one Bitcoin is currently valued at $2,686.43 USD (or €2,164.44).

The Rise of the EU Market

In addition to its soaring value, more bankers and consumers are becoming comfortable with the idea of digital, intangible, currency.Click To Tweet

We all envisioned a future without cash or paper notes. But, maybe we assumed our inevitably paperless financial future would look more like the U.S. credit culture than a digital currency.

When compared to U.S. consumers, Europeans tend to pay for more things using cash- down to counting out exact change.

But, as digital currencies continue to gain value, legitimacy, and popularity, this trend is already changing.

Statista reports that not only are consumers turning away from the use of physical cash but that European’s confidence in electronic currency continues to rise.

Statistics show online banking is one of the most popular payment methods in Europe with an astounding 91% of Norwegians preferring it to brick and mortar alternatives.

This is likely the reason it was reported this week that Skandiabanken – a digital bank owned by the Norwegian provider Skandia – will let users connect their Coinbase accounts to their existing funds.

Coinbase Comes to the United States

Last year, we argued that if Big Banks wanted to stay relevant to their consumers, they would have to start not only listening to market demand for Fintech and accompanying services, but also start providing them.

This month in the U.S., USAA successfully finished their pilot program for Coinbase and now allow members and employees to view their Coinbase accounts on usaa.com and the USAA mobile app.

USAA has long been praised for its proprietary software and cutting-edge security measures, which the financial institution is beginning to license to other banks.

Coindesk reports that we should expect more financial institutions to follow suit as “USAA was one of several participants in the $75m Series C round raised by bitcoin services firm Coinbase in January 2015, alongside The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and BBVA Ventures”.

Software engineer at USAA and long-time Bitcoin miner, Donald Berg, agreed, stating: “Bitcoin could easily be the currency of tomorrow”.

Developing Security Measures

At Edgy Labs, we’re always investigating IT and Fintech securities. As of right now, these financial institutions have not released explicit positions on the possibility of a 51% attack or other potential exploits bitcoin might have.

However, USAA has released a statement, claiming that:

“Aggregating a Coinbase account is easy and secure. Thanks to OAuth (Open Authentication) technology, USAA receives an access token to retrieve Coinbase account information, never storing Coinbase account credentials.”