Coinbase is a secure electronic wallet service and trading platform for Bitcoin. They are located in San Francisco, California and were founded in June of the year 2012. They are now one of the most widely used Bitcoin exchange site with over 4 million users and still growing. The exchange and wallet service is currently available in more than thirty countries in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. Payment methods depends on your country including Bank transfer, Interac Online, EFT and SEPA transfer, 3D Secure cards, and Xfers transfer. U.S. customers can use Mastercard or Visa credit card as a backup payment.

Their service for sending and receiving Bitcoin is free. They handle privacy, security and backups very well to secure their customers funds and transactions. They also offer very high limits which depends on your Account level. Your account level is based on the number of information you have verified.

When it comes to speed, it varies on what country you are located and the payment method you are using. If you are in the U.S., it only takes five business days to receive your Bitcoins from the day you placed your order. You can benefit with Coinbase instant buy if you add a credit card to your account as a backup payment method.

Whereas in Canada, it takes four days to receive your Bitcoin via EFT. You can also receive them instantly if you use Interac Online payment method. In Europe, it only takes 3 days to complete using SEPA transfer.

Creating an account with CoinBase is simple. Go to their website Coinbase.com and start trading . The following are the easy steps:

Signing up an account

Step 1

Enter you name, email address, desired password and agree to the User agreement and Privacy policy. Then, hit Create Account and verify your email.

Step 2

Link your phone number to secure your account by having short codes for large transactions.

A code will be sent to you through SMS to be used to verify your phone number.

Verify your identity by uploading your ID

Lastly, you will be required to choose a payment method whether by bank transfers, credit and debit cards or bank wires. Once verification process is complete, you can start off buying, selling, sending and/or receiving bitcoins.

How to buy bitcoins?

Login to your account

Click on the Buy/Sell or Trade option to load the trading screen

Place your desired amount on the buy amount box then choose your payment method and the address or wallet you want to receive it to.

Then, hit the Buy Bitcoin button

A confirmation window will appear where you can review your transaction. Click Confirm if everything looks good

Then, another window will tell you that your bitcoins are delivered

How to sell bitcoins?

Login to your account

Click on the Buy/Sell or Trade option to load the trading screen

Place your desired amount of bitcoin on the amount box which automatically converts to USD. Choose your wallet where your Bitcoins will come from and a payment method.

You will be able to see the fee in USD. Once it looks good to you, click the Sell button.

Coinbase will then send you an email confirming your sell and you will then receive your money in about 4 to 5 days.