Fortune is reporting that margin trading has arrived at Coinbase. You can see the full article here, but suffice it to say the key differentiator for Coinbase’s GDAX trading platform is the one thing that the firm hopes gets it adopted by the big traders: regulatory compliance.
GDAX accomplishes this in the form of state licensure, which is normally the first thing that “whales” want to see before plunking down all sorts of money. Or even any sort of money.
Note that margin trading already exists on two of the largest US-based platforms: Kraken and Poloniex. (Kraken appears to have added trading in Monero recently; you can read more about Monero, or XMR, elsewhere on this site.) Other sites have margin accounts available – but sites, as you’d imagine, are scattered around the globe.
And that’s the point of crypto and, perhaps, where the big ol’ dose of irony comes in: in order to become legitimate in the eyes of the mainstream, you have to do some legitimate things – like state licensure. But you can’t maintain that decentralized awesomeness that you’ve come to expect from Bitcoin and altcoins if you’re too tightly regulated. Or if the big banks start getting involved – since their involvement always finds regulatory involvement trailing closely behind.
In any event, feel free to check out the info on the Fortune article and on Coinbase’s GDAX.
And if you want to get started with Coinbase, here’s our handy-dandy affiliate link. (DISCLOSURE: if you make a qualifying Bitcoin purchase, we’ll get some Bitcoin as a result.)