US-based bitcoin trading firm Coinbase has expanded its services to 13 European countries, marking a larger push to broaden its reach outside US.
Bitcoin users in countries Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Malta, Portugal, and Slovakia can use Coinbase for trading and make euro-denominated payments.
Bitcoin services offered by Coinbase include an exchange for purchasing and selling bitcoins; a digital wallet and a payment processing service to facilitate merchants.
Coinbase said in a statement: "We think launching in these additional countries is a major step for the entire Bitcoin community, and will help continue bitcoin’s growth as a global payment network.
"We believe this launch will accelerate merchant adoption in Europe, now that many more consumers have easy access to bitcoin.
"We feel this will also accelerate the use case of cross border payments for bitcoin."
The expansion would allow Coinbase to compete against rival bitcoin payment processor, BitPay, which is used by over 10,000 merchants globally.
Coinbase is being used by around 36,000 merchants and retailers for payments, including brands such as Overstock.com, Expedia and eBay payment processor Braintree.
