Coinbase granted e-money license

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has been granted an e-money license by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The license will allow Coinbase to issue e-money and provide payment services in the UK and to 23 other countries within the EU. It requires Coinbase’s e-money operations to meet the strict rules enforced by the FCA and the Payment Services Directive. These include satisfying the FCA on the segregation of client funds, whereby all customer fiat balances (deposited funds) are kept separate from Coinbase’s funds in separate bank accounts.

Coinbase said the grating of the license will help it to deliver a better experience for its customers through new partnerships and an easier to use product.

Separately, Coinbase has added support for the UK’s Faster Payments Scheme (FPS). Faster Payments offers a familiar payment experience and is supported by all major UK banks. UK customers will benefit from faster, safer and seamless bank transfers.

Coinbase said it would start with a pilot, giving a small number of institutional users access to Faster Payments before rolling it out to all UK customers in the coming weeks. It also said it plans to grow its London team 8x by the end of this year.