Coinbase customers can now dodge bank withdrawal wait times

Coinbase has unveiled a faster way for its customers to move digital currencies out of crypto and into their bank accounts.

The U.S. friendly crypto platform now allows 40 different countries faster cash withdrawals, Coinbase wrote in a Oct. blog post. “Customers in the U.S., U.K. and Europe can withdraw funds with a linked Visa debit card,” the post said. “In the U.S., customers will be able to also withdraw funds with their Mastercard.”

This fresh feature incurs an additional 1.5% charge on U.S. users, while E.U. and U.K. participants pay a slightly higher rate of 2%.  

Under usual circumstances, transferring fiat from crypto exchanges takes between one and five business days to settle on the involved bank’s back end. This means users must wait that time period before they can use cash withdrawn from exchanges. This new option from Coinbase speeds along the process when using a payment card, making funds available to spend instantly.

Part of the value held within Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is their efficiency and transaction speeds. Bitcoin, for example, does not take nearly as long as banks to fully transfer for further use. Using Bitcoin, however, sometimes requires interaction with traditional banking systems, which operate at a slower speed. With this update, Coinbase has increased the rapidity of this once-unhurried process.