One of the “Hottest Startups of 2013” according to Forbes has added alterations to its current policy on limits and denominations. The main aim of the performed changes is to make the process of purchase of Bitcoins more comfortable and innovative. The evaluation of the scaling process of customers on different levels still cannot be done as the revision has been announced and completed on the 27th of January.
The San Francisco based Bitcoin startup was launched on 20th June of 2013. The potential of Coinbase was recognized in late 2013, while not only the Forbes magazine has praised the company, but venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz decided to invest 25 million dollars. Already in May of 2013 the platform has services about 15 million dollars in Bitcoin, which is a great sum remembering the price of the virtual currency at this point of development.
Coinbase offers a wide variety of services. The main activity is the exchange of dollars towards coins, actually - the depositing process of the environment. Additionally the customers are offered an online wallet and excessive features for registered merchants. Overstock.com is among the biggest online players, who are on board with Coinbase.
The recent announcement has touched the ordinary users. Statistics believe that there at least 65 000 registered individuals on the platform. The whole community is divided on three levels. The 0 level is nominal, as daily or weekly instant buy limits, as well as selling limit per day is equal to zero. The numbers mirrored on the 1st and 2nd level have undergone a revision. The first nuance is the unit of limits – dollars, but not BTC as it was before. The new numbers can be observed in the Support section of the homepage of Coinbase. A comment from the developers is left to the users getting acquainted with the information:
“We realize this change may inconvenience some users who have come to rely on instant buys, but this is an aspect of the site we will be continually pushing to improve. Thank you for bearing with us in the meantime as we work towards delivering bitcoin purchases in a safe and secure manner. As always, we are open to and appreciate your feedback.”
The one day older press release, from the 26th of January gives particular examples to support the decision.
“For example, a level 2 user will have a purchase limit of $50,000/day instead of 50 BTC. Right now that’s equivalent to about 60 BTC, but as the price of Bitcoin changes, the BTC equivalent will vary.”
The reasons are also mentioned:
“When we originally created the transfer limits on Coinbase, the price of Bitcoin was much lower. A limit of 50 BTC/day in August was only equivalent to $5,000. Today, it’s equivalent to over $40,000.”
Although the new limits are set and are not going to change, the users can find a way how to perform bigger deals. It is not a problem to switch to the 2nd level at least for a day after the opinion of the developers. However, the introduction of such limits seems to bind the users and to violate the basic principles of the cryptocurrencies, Coinbase believes that their decision will contribute to stabilization and necessary regulation of the environment.