On May 17, Coinbase, which is one of North America's leading digital currency exchanges, announced in the form of a press release that the company's Earn program had officially gone live and was available to people in more than 100 countries.

At the end of the last year, Coinbase announced the program, which was only available at the time by invitation. The program lets those who are new to cryptocurrencies earn them while they learn about various digital currencies.

The program came about because the company discovered through its own research that many people who were wary of investing in digital currencies were interested in learning more about them. They believe that a "lack of knowledge" was what was preventing more people from entering the market. This lack of knowledge was particularly true of alternative cryptocurrencies, meaning digital currencies other than Bitcoin.

As new users learn about various alternative cryptocurrencies, such as the Basic Attention Token, ERC-20 "Ox", Stellar Lumens and Zcash, Coinbase Earn quizzes them about the currencies and rewards them with the currencies when they answer the questions correctly. They are currently offering more $100 million worth of digital currency as prizes.

In order to participate, users must first provide ID verification, and they must also meet other eligibility requirements.

Lately, Coinbase has been busy expanding its various offerings to people outside of its home markets. Just this week, it added 50 countries to its platform, which will give people living in these countries the ability to trade digital currencies. It also added USD Coin trading support to people living in 85 counties. USD Coin is a popular stablecoin whose value is tied to the U.S. dollar.

Coinbase believes that, by giving people access to stablecoins in these countries, they will help provide some economic stability to those who are living there. In a press release announcing the availability of the coin in these countries, Coinbase noted that price inflation in countries such as Uzbekistan and Argentina is expected to rise somewhere between 10-20% next year, and they say that the USD Coin can provide a hedge against this.