The Daily: Coinbase Adds Paypal Withdrawals, Gazprombank to Manage Crypto Assets

In this edition of The Daily, Coinbase customers in certain regions can now link their Paypal accounts to withdraw fiat and sell cryptocurrencies. Also, Russia’s third-largest bank is working to launch a digital asset management service in Switzerland, and Koinex, India’s leading crypto exchange, has set up a new development center in Bengaluru, the country’s IT hub.

Also read: Poloniex Offers Institutional Accounts, Okex Launches ‘Perpetual Swap’

Coinbase Offers Paypal as Withdrawal Option

Leading U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has added support for Paypal as a payment method for withdrawals, allowing users to directly transfer fiat funds into their Paypal accounts. The availability of the withdrawal option is dependent on an individual’s country of residence.

An announcement published on its website detailed that Coinbase has introduced the ability for customers to link their Paypal and Coinbase accounts. Once implemented, Coinbase customers will able to either withdraw fiat currencies to Paypal, or sell their cryptocurrencies and use the Paypal account to receive the fiat money.

To take advantage of the service, users need to ensure they have completed all identity verification steps on Coinbase and that their listed country is correct. Then they will have to go to ‘Settings’ and click “Link a New Account” if using the desktop platform, or “Add a Payment Method” in the mobile app.

After selecting Paypal, they will be prompted to log in to their Paypal account. Currently, Coinbase customers in supported regions can only use Paypal to withdraw fiat or sell cryptocurrency. Purchases of digital assets with Paypal are not available yet.

Gazprombank Ventures Into Digital Asset Management

Gazprombank (Switzerland) Ltd., the Swiss subsidiary of the Russian state-owned Gazprombank, plans to launch a digital asset management product in cooperation with two fintech companies, Avaloq and Metaco. The new financial service will be based on the Silo infrastructure, a crypto asset custodial solution developed by Metaco.

According to a press release, the partners will offer their clients the ability to perform crypto transactions without the need to set up a separate cryptocurrency wallet. They will be able to monitor and control both their fiat and digital funds through their accounts.

The new service will be officially launched in 2019. Gazprombank, which is the third-largest Russian bank by assets, announced its intentions to begin limited-scale cryptocurrency operations through its Swiss subsidiary earlier this year. In March, its deputy CEO Alexander Sobol said the bank is doing that in response to demand from some of its large customers.

Koinex Sets up Development Center in Bengaluru

Digital asset exchange Koinex, India’s leading cryptocurrency trading platform, has announced it’s inaugurating a new development center in Bengaluru, the country’s IT hub. The unit will be exploring potential implementations of crypto and blockchain technologies in various industries, the Indian daily Business Standard reported.

According to the publication, the development center will work to address different issues related to finance, payments, security and banking operations on a global scale. The Mumbai-headquartered company has already secured backing from leading venture capital companies, including Singapore-based Beenext and San Francisco-based Pantera Capital.

Koinex also noted it’s currently expanding its workforce. In addition, the company plans to allocate $1 million for investments in the development of the blockchain and crypto ecosystem in India. Koinex co-founder and CEO Rahul Raj expressed confidence in the diversification of the platform’s product offerings. He also emphasized that “digital assets exchanges are at the epicenter of all blockchain related development today.”

Coinsquare Acquires Wallet Provider Blockeq

Coinsquare, a major Canadian cryptocurrency trading platform, has acquired wallet solutions provider Blockeq for $12 million. According to an announcement, the crypto exchange plans to take advantage of the technology developed by Blockeq in order to expand its products and services using the Stellar Network.

The startup has so far released a number of private stellar wallets, including desktop versions for MacOS and Windows, as well as mobile apps that are currently available on both Apple App Store and Google Play Store. After the acquisition, Blockeq will continue to operate as a Coinsquare subsidiary and a separate entity.

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

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