Coinbase takes on BitPay in Europe, services now available in 13 countries

Coinbase has announced that its wallet services are now available in 13 countries across Europe: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Latvia, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain. Absent from the list is Germany, Europe's largest economy.

Coinbase hopes that with its expansion, more merchants on the continent will begin to accept Bitcoin , which can be facilitated through its merchant solution. In addition, their presence on another continent may stimulate cross-border Payments with Bitcoin.

They note that the launch is in beta, during which users will have a €500 daily transaction limit. The limit will be raised as they move out of beta.

Coincidentally, Coinbase's Europe expansion comes nearly at the same time as BitPay's upgrading its facilities, a sign of its success on the continent thus far and of its future ambitions.

While Coinbase has traditionally dominated in the US, BitPay has been favored internationally as it does not require a US bank account. In Europe, Coinbase will now hook up with euro-denominated bank accounts.