Being one of the biggest platforms to trade digital currencies, Coinbase has bigger plans to expand its business and have a more significant impact on the world of finance. The company gained huge profits when bitcoin skyrocketed towards the $20,000 mark in December 2017. But, the company is not satisfied by a single season of gains. In 2017, Coinbase recorded a profit of $1 billion which would be used to fuel the intentions of the company to acquire more portion of the crypto economy.
Recently, the San Francisco-based company ranked at the 10th spot at the CNBC’s Distributor 50 List of 2018. Asiff Hirji, President, and COO Coinbase said, “We don’t see ourselves as a crypto exchange. We are very focused on the establishment of the crypto economy. We see ourselves as an enabler of that future economy.”
Earlier this year, Coinbase managed to double the size of its engineering team which has increased its capacity by 1000 percent. In an official letter published earlier this month the company expects “to again double this capacity in coming months.” It also acquired earn.com that allows users to deal in digital currencies for completing small tasks and responding to mass market emails. Earn.com’s CEO will be posted as the first chief technology officer for the company.
As of now, Coinbase has reported its value much above than the estimates of VC funds at $8 billion against the valuation of $1.6 billion recorded in summer 2017. Hirji added, “What we provide is an on-ramp from the old economy to the new, from fiat to crypto. We need a bridge to get there, and we are providing that bridge.”
On the other hand, the New York Stock Exchange is set to launch a crypto exchange focused on institutional investors. Rival companies are also entering the crypto exchange which is an alarming situation for Coinbase. Currently, Square has emerged as the biggest competitor which is owned by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. According to experts, Square has the potential to damage Coinbase’s exchange business substantially. They also believe that Coinbase has no option but to spread its wings in order to survive new competition in the market.
The company wants to be an end all shop for institutional investors through its exchange business. It is trying to avoid the upper-class investor through various products who have been hesitant to invest in crypto for its volatility.
Meanwhile, Coinbase has faced criticism for limiting its operations to four types of digital coins. SEC is also an essential aspect of its new policies will have a considerable impact on Coinbase’s business as customers have been demanding more coins on Coinbase.
The company is trying hard to distribute its business all over the crypto economy to minimize the risk of a single failed venture. With new companies backed by top VC’s, it has become hard to rely on a single business for Coinbase. It can also increase the number of cryptocurrencies traded on its platform to attract new users to its already established platform.
