As the largest US cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase is definitely working towards providing more and more quality services to its large user base. While just recently, a user had to convert BTC, for example, to EUR in order to buy another cryptocurrency, this is no longer the case.
Coinbase now lets users trade on a crypto-to-crypto basis, meaning that fiat currencies are not necessary to use if one wants to convert Bitcoin to Ethereum. The new add-on works with the following digital coins on the platform: Litecoin, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, 0x and Ethereum Classic.
The crypto-to-crypto conversions can be done instantly and cost much less in fees than the usual conversion with two separate transactions. While it may be less costly, there are still some fees that users will bear when trading on a crypto-to-crypto basis on Coinbase. The fee is around the 1% spread, much lower than Bitcoin’s, for example, at 1.5%.
In addition, as observed by CryptoPotato, the fee incurred in the new crypto-to-crypto trading feature is still around four times more than the equivalent incurred on CoinbasePro or GDAX.
Coinbase is now facing more competition than ever, especially with some tension arising from the fact that XRP may not be adopted by Coinbase in the near future.