United States crypto exchange and wallet service Coinbase has expanded USD Coin (USDC) trading to customers in 85 countries, the firm announced in a blog post on May 14.
Along with the USDC announcement, Coinbase also announced a major global expansion, adding 50 more jurisdictions to its coverage, including such countries as Brazil, South Africa and Taiwan, among others.
Starting from today, Coinbase serves customers in 103 countries in total, the exchange wrote, adding that the move will help accelerate the global adoption of crypto trading.
USD Coin is the first stablecoin listed for trading on Coinbase platform: the exchange first listed USDC back in October 2018 for customers in selected jurisdictions in the U.S..
By adding USDC coverage in 85 global jurisdictions, Coinbase aims to “improve the lives of people in countries where inflation is eroding wealth,” according to the blog post. The company stated that stablecoins like USDC could provide an opportunity to protect against high inflation in newly added countries like Argentina and Uzbekistan, where consumer prices are expected to inflate by 10–20% in 2020.
Earlier this week, a startup backed by Coinbase, Reserve, announced that it would soon be launching a Venmo-style app in Venezuela for crypto-fiat payments, specifically targeting the country in order to help citizens get around the rising inflation.
A stablecoin is a digital currency designed to have minimal price volatility due to its 1:1 peg to a certain fiat currency or cryptocurrency holding. At press time, there are 348 million USDC circulating with a daily trading volume of around $250 million, according to data from CoinMarketCap.