The Daily: Coinbase Introduces GBP Pairs, Hitbtc Adds EURS, Bitpanda Offers EOS

In today’s Bitcoin in Brief, we cover several decisions made by leading cryptocurrency exchanges regarding new trading options offered to clients. UK customers of Coinbase will be able to purchase cryptocurrencies with British pounds, Hitbtc has added support for the new euro-pegged stablecoin, EURS, and European exchange Bitpanda offers EOS. Also in The Daily, US exchange Poloniex is reportedly under investigation for denying users access to their accounts.

Also read: Check Which Coins You Can Spend With Debit Cards and Why Upcoming Fuzex Chooses BCH

Conbase’s UK Customers Can Buy Coins with Pounds

US-based crypto exchange Coinbase announced this week that its UK customers will be able buy cryptocurrencies with GBP. This is a good news for British residents who until recently had to maintain fiat funds in EUR and put up with slower purchasing times and foreign exchange fees. Now they can take advantage of same day payments and withdrawals. Zeeshan Feroz, CEO of Coinbase UK, commented:

UK banks have been conservative in terms of working with crypto businesses and we’re proud to be one of the first companies to get access to domestic banking.

On Wednesday, the company said it will begin adding GBP trading pairs such as GBP/BTC and GBP/ETH in the coming weeks. Coinbase expects that the new offerings will also be popular with professional traders as the pairs can be used to bet on currency movements in the global foreign exchange markets.

The San Francisco, California-based trading platform currently supports the following cryptocurrencies: bitcoin core (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), litecoin (LTC), and ethereum (ETH), and plans to introduce support for ethereum classic (ETC). Recently, the exchange announced it is “exploring the addition of several new assets”: cardano (ADA), basic attention token (BAT), stellar lumens (XLM), zcash (ZEC), and 0x (ZRX).

Hitbtc Adds Support for EURS Stablecoin

The new stablecoin on the block, euro-pegged EURS, has received another recognition. The cryptocurrency which is tied to the common European fiat, EUR, is now trading on one of the leading crypto exchanges, Hitbtc. “We’ve integrated $EURS on #HitBTC!” the trading platform recently posted on Twitter.

“Dear traders, we are happy to announce the official launch of the new stablecoin – Stasis EURS. Stasis is a new project on the marketplace, offering the first ever fiat-collateralized cryptocurrency pegged to Euro,” the exchange said in a blog post. According to Hitbtc, “the coin maintains the benefits of both traditional instruments of finance and crypto-markets” and “is already helping European institutional investors to join the world of crypto.”

The launch of EURS was announced in July by Stasis, a company that has applied for a crypto license in Malta. The new stablecoin, joining the dollar-pegged tether (USDT), is built on Ethereum’s EIP-20 standard and claimed to be backed 1-for-1 by euro. EURS is already trading on London-based DSX exchange. Stasis hopes to reach an order volume of up to $500 million by the end of 2018.

On July 31, Hitbtc went briefly offline explaining in a tweet that a hardware fault has caused the issue and informing users it will be unavailable for about 2 hours. The exchange assured its clients that their funds were safe without providing further details on the cause of the problem.

Bitpanda Offers EOS in Europe

Bitpanda, a leading European crypto exchange, has added EOS to its trading platform. The cryptocurrency with the fifth largest market capitalization, according to Satoshi Pulse, will also be available at a number of Post AG branches and branches of its partners across Austria. The addition is expected to both bolster the reputation of EOS and increase the trading volume of Bitpanda, considered to be the major crypto exchange on the Old Continent.

In June, Bitpanda expanded its offerings with two new coins, IOTA (MIOTA) and komodo (KMD), as news.Bitcoin.com reported. The announcement came after the successful launch of Bitpanda 2.0. Along with theses listings, the team of the exchange promised to add new coins on a regular basis in the future. Both cryptos were added as partners of Bitpanda and in response to popular demand within the Bitpanda community.

Poloniex Under Investigation in the US

Cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex has been placed under investigation by the US Department of Justice (DoJ). The move follows a number of complaints from users who had been denied access to their account profiles.

According to media reports, the Chief Special Investigator of the Investors Protection Unit (IPU) at the DoJ has sent out an email to a number of selected active Poloniex users on July 25, asking them to revert back if they had encountered any difficulties when using their Poloniex accounts.

The Delaware-based trading platform currently ranks 33rd among crypto exchanges, according to Coinmarketcap, with a daily trading volume of almost $35 million USD. Poloniex offers trading for close to 100 cryptocurrencies and digital tokens.

What are your thoughts on today’s news tidbits? Tell us in the comments section below.

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