Why Coinbase could become the biggest Bank in the World
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What's going on: There is a very good chance you know coinbase.com, because it's one of the go-to-websites when it comes to buy Bitcoin, Litecoin or Ethereum very easily. But it's not only easy to use, it is also very popular – and extremely effective in what it is doing: Based in San Francisco they are by far the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. They have 11 million users, but only 200 staff. For comparison: Lloyds bank have 30 million users and 75k staff. Wells Fargo have 70 million users and 270k staff. In October 2017 they got 100k users in three days, in total they grew 1 million users last month.
The services they offer resemble a bank: you can buy crypto and sell it, they have phone support for customers, they have added digital vaults for people who are (legitimately) afraid to keep coins on exchanges.
This banky character is most interesting for people, who don't have a regular bank account. Coinbase write in their official mission statement:
"About 1/3 of the world lives on less than $2 per day, but 90% of them don’t have access to a bank account. The traditional banking business model (earning interest on deposits) doesn’t work for people with very little money. Our belief is that digital currency on smartphones will bring financial services to many people in the developing world, and this will help level the playing field."
Why should I care: Coinbase not only had significant first-mover-advantage in terms of complying to regulation, they are also (and this is crucial) the easiest exchange to use. They contributed significantly to making cryptocurrencies accessible for a lot of people and get it to the mainstream.
But all this seems like peanuts compared to their bigger plans: Eventually becoming a global banking force, giving everyone on the planet access to something like a bank account. No matter where they live, or who they are.
Source: hackernoon.com
GIF: giphy.com
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