Coinbase starts offering international payment services with XRP and USDC

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has started offering a service that allows users to send money across borders, CoinDesk reported.

According to the website, the “fast and free” payments service will let users to “send money to any user with a Coinbase account around the world using XRP or USDC.”

Coinbase, however, has clarified that this is not a money remittance service and says that it is a “cryptocurrency transaction with conversion into local currency after receipt.”

“By using cryptocurrencies that are optimized for cross-border transmission, you can send and receive money virtually instantly by sending those cryptocurrencies and having the recipient convert them into local currency. There’s zero fee for sending to other Coinbase users and a nominal on-chain network fee for sending outside of Coinbase,” the website reads.

A Coinbase spokesperson told CoinDesk that the service was launched around the same time Coinbase added support for XRP on February 28. The spokesperson said that the service primarily aims to spread awareness about the benefits of using crypto for cross-border payments.

The service is currently available to Coinbase users in any supported country, including India, Mexico, and the Philippines. In countries where Coinbase does not support the local currency, recipients would be required to transfer their XRP/USDC to an exchange that supports exchanges from XRP/USDC to local currency.