Coinbase Offering Rewards To USD Coin Crypto Holders

Coinbase is launching a rewards program for its U.S. customers that will give users money back on every USD Coin they hold, the company announced in a blog post on Wednesday (Oct. 2).

With USDC Rewards, people will begin earning 1.25 percent APY on every USD Coin they hold on Coinbase.

“USDC Rewards is a way for Coinbase customers to earn a return on USD Coin holdings without having to sell or transact any cryptocurrency,” Coinbase said in the post.

USD Coin is a stablecoin backed by the U.S. dollar. Every USD Coin is worth $1 and can be redeemed for cash. The coin also functions like cryptocurrency and can be sent anywhere with no fees.

“USD Coin maintains its stable price because you can always redeem one USD Coin for one U.S. dollar,” the company said in the post. “It has both the functional benefits of crypto — you can instantaneously send it anywhere for free and hold it without a financial intermediary — along with the stability that the US dollar backing provides.”

Over one billion USD Coins were released by CENTRE, the creator of the coin and the consortium co-founded by Coinbase. 

Coinbase is “committed to building the easiest, most trusted crypto investment experience in the world,” the company said on its website. “As crypto adoption continues to spread, it’s our goal to deliver more ways for anyone to legally and securely do more with their crypto, beyond trading.”

The percentage rate of rewards is the same regardless of a customer’s balance. Rewards mount in real-time according to how much a person holds and there are never fees. 

There is no charge to buy USD Coins with a bank account and coins can be converted to other cryptocurrency or to U.S. dollars at any time.

In June, Coinbase rolled out its Visa debit card to six additional European countries. The company debuted the card in the U.K. in April. The Coinbase Card is funded by customers’ Coinbase cryptocurrency account balances, giving them the ability to pay in-store and online with bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and other digital tokens.