Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said it will enable support for on-chain transactions through Polygon and Solana blockchains.
With the new inclusion, the exchange users can send and receive ETH, MATIC, and USDC on Polygon, and USDC on Solana. The Polygon integration marks the first time Coinbase has enabled the ability to send and receive these assets on an L2 or sidechain.
Additionally, the crypto exchange has pledged more integrations shortly. It will add support for Solana-based non-fungible tokens (NFT) and the ability to plug Coinbase Wallet into Solana decentralized applications (dapp).
Coinbase senior product manager Adam Zadikoff said in a release that Ethereum’s high gas fees have priced out millions of would-be users. As such, the trend caused more affordable networks like Polygon and Solana to increase in popularity. However, he acknowledges that the process of funding wallets on these networks can be complex and time-consuming.
“Coinbase is reducing the time, effort, and high fees of today’s experience by letting customers convert fiat to crypto and fund their Polygon and Solana wallets in minutes and at a fraction of the cost,” Coinbase said in a blog post.
The recent additions come as the regulated platform, which offers trading in Bitcoin and Ethereum along with more than 110 altcoins, is expanding its order book to include tokens that have gained popularity in recent months.
The proliferation of alternative coins has been a challenge for Coinbase because competitors support some of them. But as their trading volume has been huge lately, Coinbase had to step in as their fans have either left the platform or opened accounts at other exchanges where they can transact.
Strictly compliant with regulations, Coinbase is one of the world’s most popular consumer-facing cryptocurrency platforms. Trading in altcoins makes up 40% of Coinbase’s volume, while Bitcoin and Ethereum accounts for the other 60%.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said that the exchange plans to list every crypto asset where it is legally permissible to do so.
America’s largest crypto exchange revealed earlier this week plans to phase out its professional trading platform, Coinbase Pro, in the next few months.
Later this year, Coinbase will migrate all advanced trading into one unified Coinbase account. Per its statement, the move aims to bring customers access to features like staking, Borrow, dapp wallet, and Coinbase Card from a single platform balance.