USAA Integrates Bitcoin Access to All Member Accounts
Following an initial pilot run which saw select USAA employees and members view their Coinbase accounts via the website and the mobile application, the USAA is now expanding bitcoin integration via Coinbase for all member accounts.
In a post yesterday, USAA announced that all account holders will be able to view their Coinbase accounts in tandem with the rest of their USAA accounts and financial services on the USAA website. Support for the mobile application will be available later this month, although both website and the application were a part of the November 2015 trial.
Jon Cholak, lead investment associate for USAA’s corporate development team has been researching the cryptocurrency for USAA since 2014. In a statement, he revealed:
Traditionally, USAA is very good about getting in front of emerging technology trends. What we’re developing is at the forefront of the financial services industries.
A Bank Favoring Blockchain and Bitcoin Research
USAA, a financial services group that brings banking, insurance and other services to US military members and their families is notable for its endeavor into bitcoin integration and research and investment into its underlying technology, the blockchain.
In January 2015, USAA was one among the more prominent investors in Coinbase’s Series C funding round which raised a record $75 million.
The managing director of corporate development at the Texas-based bank, Alex Marquez, also revealed in 2015 that the bank was looking into utilizing blockchain technology in order to decentralize some of the bank’s operations.
Speaking in May 2015, Marquez stated:
We have serious interest in the blockchain and we think the technology would have an impact on the organization. The fact that we have such a large group of people working on this shows how serious we are about the potential of this technology.
With the integration of Coinbase accounts with all member accounts, the move is another sign that USAA is looking to invest in bitcoin for its own future, just as it did with Coinbase.
One participating member from the original trial, Donald Berg, a software engineer at USAA added the following in USAA’s post:
Bitcoin could easily be the currency of tomorrow.
Featured image from USAA.
