San Francisco-based crypto exchange Coinbase is planning to add Celo (CELO), the native digital currency of an open-source platform that aims to make financial tools accessible to anyone with a smartphone or mobile device.
Celo will only be offered on Coinbase Pro, which is the US-headquartered exchange’s trading platform for professional or more sophisticated/experienced traders.
The exchange confirmed that beginning on Monday, August 31, 2020, Coinbase Pro users will be able to transfer CELO into their account ahead of trading. The company further noted that support for CELO will be available in all the exchange’s supported jurisdictions. It also mentioned that “per previous launches, transfers will open during business hours, Pacific time.”
The digital asset exchange says that its customers often request that they’d like to trade new crypto-assets on its platform. As covered, Coinbase appears to have an extensive vetting and listing process for new tokens. This is necessary because the US is one of the most highly regulated financial markets in the world.
As previously reported, Coinbase’s long-term goal is to support the trading of over 90% of cryptocurrencies in circulation – which may be too challenging considering there are now thousands of virtual coins in circulation, with many of them being nothing more than speculative tokens or assets.
Recently, Coinbase added support for Numeraire (NMR), Band (BAND), Compound (COMP), Maker (MKR) and OmiseGo (OMG). The exchange now also supports additional European and UK order books. Coinbase confirmed that it will continue to explore support for new crypto-assets.
As explained by the exchange, Celo (CELO) is a cryptocurrency that aims to serve as a utility and governance token for the Celo platform. The Celo platform is developed in a manner that should make it simple for users with smartphones to send, receive, and store stablecoins that are issued on Celo (for instance, the Celo Dollar), without having to manage a crypto wallet.
Coinbase clarified that CELO is not available on Coinbase.com or through its consumer mobile apps. It’s only being offered to Coinbase Pro users for now.
Coinbase recently announced that it has appointed Marcus Hughes as the new GM for its European division. Hughes has served as General Counsel for the crypto platform’s international operations and in his upcoming role, he will be responsible for continuing to scale Coinbase’s operations throughout Europe.
The appointment of Hughes comes weeks after Coinbase appointed former VP of Engineering at Lyft, Manish Gupta, as its new Executive VP of Engineering.