Cryptocurrency company Coinbase is announcing a handful of new features. While the company is better known for its exchange that lets you convert USD into various cryptocurrencies, Coinbase wants to expand its consumer services so that you use the platform for different use cases with more financial services.
First, the company will soon launch direct deposit in the U.S. This way, customers will be able to deposit a portion of their paycheck into Coinbase. Coinbase app users can find their current payroll company or employer and update paycheck allocation from there. The most extreme users will probably choose to deposit 100% of their paycheck into their Coinbase account.
Once the money hits your Coinbase account, you can choose what the company is supposed to do with your dollars. You can just keep everything in USD or you can choose to convert everything to a cryptocurrency.
Users can choose any of the crypto assets available on the platform. This feature alone is particularly useful if you want to set up recurring buys without even having to think about it.
But direct deposit makes more sense when you realize that Coinbase also has its own debit card powered by Marqeta. It’s a Visa debit card that works with Apple Pay and Google Pay. It’s all about getting money in and out of your Coinbase account.
From the Coinbase app, you can choose the source wallet for your card transactions. Every time you make a purchase, Coinbase converts your crypto assets to USD with a 2.49% transaction fee.
Card transactions are also eligible to rewards. Current rewards include 1% back in DAI, ETH, DOGE or BTC, 4% back in GRT, XLM, AMP or RLY. So you spend a lot in transaction fees and you earn a bit in rewards.
Starting now, users can also choose to spend USD directly. In that case, there are no fees involved with card transactions. The company has been testing the Coinbase Card for a while, it’ll be available to everyone starting next month.
Coinbase is already an important financial app for millions of people in the U.S. Now that the company owns that relationship, it makes sense that it is adding new services to increase usage. That’s why Coinbase will also change the tabs in its mobile app with four new tabs — ‘Assets’, ‘Trade’, ‘Pay’ and ‘For You’. And maybe some users will end up using the Coinbase app a bit more and their bank app a bit less.