Coinbase, the major US based cryptocurrency exchange, has clear plans to operate as a federally regulated broker-dealer. A company blog post was written by Asiff Hirji, CEO and president of Coinbase where he detailed that the firm is in the middle of acquiring three licenses: a broker-dealer license, a registered investment advisor license and an alternative trading system license. According to the blog post, once these are in possession of the company, it would be able to get approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to offer blockchain-based securities. Quoted from the post:

“We believe this is an important moment for the crypto ecosystem, and yet another indication of the maturation of the crypto economy. If approved, these licenses will set Coinbase on a path to offer future services that include crypto securities trading, margin and over-the-counter (OTC) trading, and new market data products.”

Hirji made sure to express that by combining cryptocurrencies with securities firms could “democratize access to capital markets for companies and investors alike, lowering costs for all participants and bringing additional transparency and inclusion to the ecosystem.”

Coinbase is not wasting any time to become a really important player of the crypto scene. We have previously reported that it has purchased decentralized crypto relay platform Paradex while it is also making efforts to rebrand its GDAX services to Coinbase Pro.