coinbase is one of the easiest ways to get into the cryptocurrency market that's a lot of people where did you make your first purchase and claim base is usually the answer founded in 2011 by Brian Armstrong and Fredersen coin this was launched with the main goal of being the most accessible cryptocurrency exchange their status as early adopters and their ease of use has positioned coinbase as one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges today 2017 was a huge year for coin base they directly benefited from the meteoric rise of cryptocurrency both of price and popularity it became the go-to resource for those looking to purchase crypto so why is coin base so popular besides being one of the first in the space they're also one of the easiest ways to purchase cryptocurrency most exchanges make you jump through hoops just to sign up and purchase cryptocurrency in most parts of the world coin base was the only realistic option for beginners to purchase cryptocurrency without going through a lengthy and annoying process users have the ability to purchase cryptocurrency be a bank transfer or credit card although some banks are now restricting credit purchases but this ease of use allows even the newest of users to easily purchase cryptocurrency like I said before for many coin base was how people first got into cryptocurrency and the numbers definitely show this by the end of November that thirteen point three million users priming coin base as the main crypto currency exchange coin based currently offers many services and the whole goal is making buying selling cryptocurrency easy however there are a couple steps that you need to go through in order to sign up for coin base because of anti money laundering laws you might have to go through a verification process in order and make your purchase another important note coin base does take a one to four percent fee this is typical of most exchanges however some offer lower fees or other incentives coinbase currently offers markets for Bitcoin aetherium Bitcoin cash and litecoin coin base does handle user private keys so we recommend that once you make a purchase you move your cryptocurrency to a wallet where you control the private keys coinbase provides support for merchants as well they have also announced a new suite of institutional products aimed to attract investment that has normally been geared towards non crypto currency markets it's a pretty big change and coin based suite is a big step for coin base and that's a rundown on coin base