Jesse Pollack, the head of engineering for Coinbase’s consumer division, told CoinDesk in a phone call the platform has been preparing since the 2017 bull run, focusing on both the actual exchange’s matching engine as well as consumer products such as its API.
The San Francisco-based crypto exchange said it processed $2 billion in crypto last Thursday and Friday (for comparison, Coinbase saw $394 million in volume over the past 24 hours, according to Bitwise). Last Thursday also beat Coinbase’s previous traffic record by over 50 percent, Armstrong said.
Coinbase saw record site traffic and a massive surge in 24-hour trading volume during last week’s coronavirus-driven market swings, CEO Brian Armstrong said in a statement shared with CoinDesk.
Where other platforms experienced issues and outages, Armstrong noted that Coinbase remained operational, saying the exchange has been preparing for a crisis “for the last couple years.”
“This hard work contributed to our stability last week while many platforms, in both crypto and traditional equities, struggled with the increased volume”, Armstrong wrote, crediting the company’s engineering team specifically.
Some of this work included horizontal scaling on the database end, Pollack said. The company said it was scaling out its databases to enable more reads without interrupting writes (meaning the exchange can view the data stored on its servers while simultaneously adding new data without either operation slowing down the other as transactions are executed).
Pollack said that though Coinbase’s employees are currently remote (the exchange began implementing remote work last week in response to the COVID-19 outbreak), the engineering team used a combination of automated alerts and chatrooms to keep up with the spikes in traffic.
“If we’re going to be hitting higher highs than what we’ve seen, we’ll generally pull together people into a hangout just have them available, ready, hanging out, chatting there, looking at all the metrics”, he said.
Still, Pollack told CoinDesk that trading platforms are complex, and a lack of mistakes doesn’t necessarily mean a platform won’t experience any issues.
“From an engineering camaraderie perspective, I think it’s just worth highlighting that scaling products is really freaking hard, and we put a lot of work into it and I think that paid off last weekend”, he said.
Coinbase Card Users Can Now Make Crypto-Backed Payments With Google Pay
Google Pay users can now make payments with cryptocurrencies, thanks to a tie-up with Coinbase’s debit card offering.The cryptocurrency exchange announced Tuesday that Coinbase Cards can now be added to users’ Google Pay wallets, enabling crypto-backed payments from Google Pay-enabled devices, such as phones or smartwatches, apparently for the first time.
Based in San Francisco, Coinbase launched its new Visa debit card for U.K. and European customers in April 2019. Holders can purchase everyday goods and services – up to £10,000 ($12,100) per day – with cryptocurrencies held in their exchange accounts that are instantly exchanged into the relevant fiat currency.
The new Google Pay feature will be available to users based in some European countries including the U.K. and Ireland, as well as Spain, France, Italy and Sweden. Neighboring countries will be added sometime later this year.
Card users will even be able to use the Google Pay integration before their physical card arrives, Coinbase added.
Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Leaves to Take Senior Role at US Bank Regulator
Coinbase’s chief legal officer, Brian Brooks, is leaving the crypto exchange to become the second in command at the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
Mnuchin said in a statement he looks forward to working with Brooks to ensure «the stability of our financial system.»
The OCC is responsible for for supervising and regulating national banks and financial institutions within the U.S. Established in 1863, the independent entity ensures banks are meeting capital and risk requirements, according to Investopedia.
Current Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting, who was nominated by U.S. President Donald Trump and sworn in in 2017, said in a statement that Brooks «brings an extensive career of legal, banking and financial innovation expertise to the agency.»
«He is a visionary thinker with a passion for service and a deep understanding of how the financial services industry supports our nation’s prosperity. We are fortunate to attract such an experienced and talented individual to join our federal agency,» Otting said.
Indeed, Brooks has been a vocal proponent of developing a private digital currency for the U.S., writing in Fortune Magazine last year that private corporations are best suited to building a digital dollar.
He envisioned a system where the public sector would set monetary policy, but the actual technology would be built by the private space.
In a statement, a Coinbase spokesperson told CoinDesk that «in the midst of a public health and financial crisis, we are comforted to know that Brian Brooks will serve in this critical role overseeing the nation’s banking system.»
«Brian is an amazing and accomplished leader who has been invaluable in shaping the Coinbase legal and compliance programs, and helping policymakers and regulators better understand the opportunities and benefits of crypto. We’re always proud of Coinbase alumni who go on to serve in government, bringing a crypto-friendly perspective with them,» the spokesperson said.
