This post is part of our live coverage of FinovateSpring 2014.
Next, Coinbase demonstrated how its Instant-Exchange feature removes the exchange rate risk for merchants accepting Bitcoin:
“Our instant-exchange feature offers bitcoin payments to merchants with zero exchange rate risk. As a merchant receives bitcoin payments throughout the day, they can instantly sell these bitcoins to Coinbase at a market exchange rate that was locked-in at the time of the customer’s purchase.At the end of each day, Coinbase will clear the USD sum total of all sales via ACH transfer. The merchant is therefore not exposed to bitcoin exchange rate volatility and will receive a dollar value, less our 1% exchange fee, that corresponds to the USD sale price of items purchased by bitcoin-paying customers.”
Presenting: Roger Gu (Bus. Dev. Manager) and Nahid Samsami (Bus. Dev. Manager)
Product Launch: February 2014
Metrics: Coinbase holds 1.1 million consumer wallets and enables 28,000 merchants to accept bitcoin payments. The company is funded by Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, and Y Combinator.
Product distribution strategy: Direct to Consumer (B2C), Direct to Business (B2B), through partnerships
HQ: San Francisco, CA
Founded: July 2012
Website: coinbase.com
Twitter: @coinbase