As crypto payments have become increasingly adopted in recent years, many companies are turning toward opening official business accounts to ensure they’re on the right track.
And what better way to get started than using one of the most reliable cryptocurrency exchanges, through a Coinbase Business Account?
Regardless of your business motives, whether for accepting crypto payments for goods and services through the Coinbase Commerce platform, investing in crypto, fundraising, or managing your business treasury reserves in cryptocurrency, it all comes down to opening a Coinbase Business Account.
As you already guessed, in today’s article, we discuss how to open a Coinbase business account and the must-knows, offering a step-by-step tutorial to open such an account quickly and get started in 2024.
What is a Coinbase Business Account?
As Coinbase is a financial institution and one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the industry, anyone can open an individual account or a business account to get started with their crypto trading endeavors.
As a result, a Coinbase business account, just as the name says, allows institutional investing, advanced trading options, and others for any business, thus splitting the private account from the professional one. So, through a business account, companies can buy and sell cryptocurrency and store it within their account.
Furthermore, one Coinbase business account opens new doors to Coinbase businesses:
- Coinbase Commerce;
- Coinbase Prime;
- Coinbase Exchange;
- Coinbase International Exchange;
Please note that the Coinbase business account can be created on either the primary Coinbase platform or the Coinbase Pro platform.
The basic Coinbase account is more appropriate for beginners, yet owning a Coinbase Pro account gives access to lower fees, more advanced trading options, and other business-beneficial features.
Coinbase Business Accounts: Pros and Cons
Coinbase Business Account Pros
Before you open a Coinbase business account, it is essential to understand the pros and cons of such type of account to better prepare your business for it.
Tailored Solutions
As seen, Coinbase offers multiple types of business-oriented products, each destined to alleviate your business pitfalls. As a result, Coinbase Commerce is used to process cryptocurrency payments from anyone, while Prime is a brokerage platform.
The Exchange assists the institutional investment of any regulated crypto spot exchange, and the International Exchange opens the door to BTC, ETH, LTC, XRP, SOL, and AVAX perpetual futures contracts.
Not to mention that institutional investing is amongst the most popular uses of the Coinbase business account type.
Security Features
As security is mandatory within the crypto trading industry, the Coinbase business account offers two-factor authentication, encrypted wallets, and others.
Lower Fees
If you wish to open a Coinbase business account, we recommend going with Coinbase Pro, which offers lower costs. For many businesses, getting some of the best price reductions could be the starting point to trade cryptocurrencies.
Personal Accounts Vs. Business Accounts
The first and foremost benefit is the segregation between personal and professional accounts. This simplifies expense tracking, making it much easier for businesses to track crypto payments and manage their crypto trading activities.
Gain Access to Advanced Trading Options
The Coinbase business account offers more advanced trading options besides the above. As such, businesses can manage their crypto-related endeavors from the first steps until full-scaling operations.
Coinbase Business Account Cons
Regarding the downfalls of such a Coinbase account, the only drawback is the onboarding and verification process, as opening individual accounts takes quite some time.
This is understandable, as there are legal and sign-up requirements that the business entity must respect.
Coinbase Business Registration Documents
Further on, businesses need to provide proof of their ownership status, a business registration certificate, and some documents proving the existence of their business, besides linking their bank account or credit/ debit cards to make the necessary purchases.
Breakdown of the required information:
- Legal Entity Name;
- Country and State of Incorporation;
- Place of Operation;
- Business Type;
- Business Description;
- Number of Employees Globally;
- Fund Assets Under Management;
Coinbase Business Account: Minimum Balance Requirement
To further ensure that your business has enough traction within the Coinbase business account, the Coinbase exchange requires a minimum balance of $1,000. As such, you could prove your company has enough capital to trade cryptocurrencies.
Step-by-step guide to creating a Coinbase Business Account
Signing up for a Coinbase business account is not rocket science, yet it requires more information than opening personal accounts.
However, if you follow our step-by-step guidelines, you could quickly alleviate the process and open a Coinbase account.
Step 1: Visit the Official Website
Visit coinbase.com and click on the sign-up button.
You’ll be prompted with a new window whereby you must choose the type of account you wish to create. In this instance, you must select the business account.
Step 2: Create Your Business Account
Once you go to the next step, as seen in the picture below, you must complete the application process with your first and last name, your email address, and a chosen password.
Step 3: Set up 2-Step Verification
Do you remember the security features that we discussed earlier?
At this step, you must enter your business phone number to receive a code via SMS, which will be required to complete the process. Once you’ve got the code, you can go to the next step and enter the required code.
Lastly, you’ll be required to verify your email address (used to create the account).
Step 4: Create Your Organization
For this step, you must enter the legal entity name, meaning your company name.
Step 5: Select Your Client Type
You must select the type of business you operate, as seen in the picture below.
Step 6: Additional Legal Entity Details
This step requires your attention as you must complete the form for Coinbase to personalize your business needs along with the necessary products, like the Coinbase Commerce platform we discussed earlier. We will break it down for you:
Entity type: non-profit, cooperative, corporation, and others;
Based on your business entity type, additional contact details will be required, or you can choose your wanted products, such as
The anticipated monthly activity: select from the dropdown only what applies best, yet it’s better to start small and then scale up;
Top 5 country selection;
Funding sources: Select all sources that will be used to fund your Coinbase business account.
At this step, you’ll be given an exact answer as to whether your Coinbase business account can be opened based on their regulatory policy.
If your business is eligible for the Coinbase business account, you’ll be asked for additional contact details to create your business profile.
Step 7: Business Verification
These next steps are fundamental for your business account application process, as they require you to submit operations details, tax and billing information, and the authorized applicant contact details such as name, email address, date of birth, ID type, LinkedIn URL, along with the business registration documents, proof of address.
Below are just a couple of the required documents, yet it all comes down to your type of business. For more details, you can check out the official Coinbase page.
- Articles/Memorandum of Association;
- Authorized Representative List;
- Constitution;
- Proof of Entities Operating Address;
- Shareholders/Members Register;
- Shareholders/Members Register;
- Source of Funds;
Step 8: Application in Review
At this moment, your application is being reviewed.
What to Do After You Create a Coinbase Business Account
Now that you’ve submitted your application for the Coinbase business account, there is little you can do except sign into your business account and go to the application tab.
Some statuses you might see include submitted, in review, in progress, or approved.
FAQ on Coinbase Business Account
What Is the Difference Between Coinbase Business and Personal?
The Coinbase business account allows your business entity to buy, sell, and store cryptocurrency, compared to the individual account, enabling you to do the same, but with your cryptos.
What Are the Advantages of Coinbase Business Account
Here are five benefits of the Coinbase business account:
- Tailored Solutions and products;
- Security Features;
- Lower Fees;
- Segregation between the personal accounts and the professional ones;
- Gain Access to Advanced Trading Options;
What Coinbase Business Account Offers?
Coinbase business account offers a way for companies to interact with the cryptocurrency industry through different Coinbase solutions for various business aspects.
As such, a business can choose between Coinbase Commerce, Prime, Exchange, and International Exchange.
In Conclusion
As we’ve reached the end of this step-by-step guide, we hope it helped overcome some of the hurdles you’ve possibly encountered.
Also, opening a Coinbase business account unlocks a new world of financial possibilities for your company, regardless of your business motives. Whether your business goals are accepting cryptocurrency payments, streamlining investments, or exploring the crypto trading niche, Coinbase offers a robust suite of business-oriented solutions.
