Bitcoin Exchange Coinbase Reportedly Valued At $1 Billion (reuters.com) 72
An anonymous reader quotes Reuters:
Bitcoin exchange Coinbase Inc. is in talks with potential investors on a new round of funding at a valuation of more than $1 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. It is not clear which investors are committing to the round, which was described as targeting around $100 million or more, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter... Demand for crypto-assets has soared with the creation of new tokens to raise funding for start-ups using blockchain technology. Coinbase said in January it raised $75 million from several major financial institutions including the New York Stock Exchange, USAA Bank and Spanish banking group BBVA.
Though Bitcoins were selling for $892 in January, they've nearly tripled in value over the last five months. Despite the fact that Coinbase "suffered outages" last week, the price of Bitcoin still rose 13.6% over the next nine days to $2561.
Though Bitcoins were selling for $892 in January, they've nearly tripled in value over the last five months. Despite the fact that Coinbase "suffered outages" last week, the price of Bitcoin still rose 13.6% over the next nine days to $2561.
The criminal activity bubble (Score:1, Insightful)
This is a bubble built on criminal activity. Once law enforcement starts cracking down on ransomware authors and terror organizations get disrupted again, the bubble will collapse and there will be a rapid decline in Bitcoin valuation. Caveat emptor.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Wah wah wah.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm one of those crazy "free speech under all circumstances" types that the EU dispises, but even I know that some speech is just noise.
If somebody is trying to make a salient point without making obvious logical errors, then that speech is acceptable no matter how disagreeable the content might be, but if somebody is just randomly babbling (example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] ) or is saying something without any meaningful purpose, then it's worth moderating in order to make it easier for the listen
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Actually, moderation is, by definition, censorship. Here's the definition from Wikipedia:
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information that may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or inconvenient as determined by governments, media outlets, authorities or other groups or institutions.
Moderation suppresses posts by reducing their score below the visibility threshold for some people. By definition, moderation is censorship. The original post in this thread was, indeed, censored to -1, and very rapidly so.
I disagree.
First of all "By definition, moderation is censorship" is incorrect.
Yes, moderation can be used to perform censorship, but moderation can also be used in a way that does not suppress speech. And suppress is a strong word, it has a meaning closer to absolutely prevent or stop.
Moderation at Slashdot does not prevent anyone from seeing a post unless the reader chooses to not see the post. Moderation in no way prevents anyone from making a post. So the speech of the poster not suppressed by the moder
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
If you had bought $100 worth of Bitcoin in May of 2010 it would be worth somewhere around US$79 Million today. The problem is, neither Coinbase, nor anyone else, is just going to hand you $79 Million for your Bitcoin. For anything more than a few thousand dollars, Bitcoin is essentially useless.
And yes, it *IS* a bubble largely built on criminal activity.
Re: (Score:3)
If you had bought $100 worth of Bitcoin in May of 2010 it would be worth somewhere around US$79 Million today. The problem is, neither Coinbase, nor anyone else, is just going to hand you $79 Million for your Bitcoin. For anything more than a few thousand dollars, Bitcoin is essentially useless.
I know a guy who claims he can cash out $79 million in tulip bulb futures, if anyone's interested.
Re: (Score:1)
Daily Bitcoin trade volume is well over 100k BTC, on most days, and over 200k BTC on high volume days. Selling 30k BTC would be fairly easy, actually.
Re: (Score:1)
It'd be easy if anyone would actually confirm the transaction before the price went through the floor.
If you're selling 30k BTC you can afford a slightly bigger fee. Or you can wait for a solution to the fee problem, and sell your BTC for 10 times the amount.
Bitcoin Not Real Currency (Score:1)
In other news all Bitcoin miners have a real world net worth of $0.00
Why? (Score:2)
If they're doing so well, they must be making good money. So why, exactly, do they need to raise another $100 million?
The valuation they're talking about is nuts. Truly, the next Internet bubble is not far from bursting...
I'm guessing the current administration (Score:2)
After all, a currency is only as valuable as what you can buy with it.
pump-n-dump (Score:2)
I would say it's the ghost of Jordan Belfort in action, but he's not dead.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:It's a bubble! It's a bubble! (Score:5, Informative)
Bitcoin did crash in 2014. It went from $1,000 to $200 in a few weeks.
Yes it's recovered, but how many of those millionaires converting their coins to real currency would it take to cause it to crash again?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: It's a bubble! It's a bubble! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Close. There is never any time when everyone can convert everything to cash. That's the point.
This is simply a claim you pulled out of your ass. It is a proof that holds only if the thing you are trying to prove is true.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Meanwhile, the people who bought in 2014 and held are now millionaires.
Meanwhile, people who bought in 2014 or earlier, and held, lost all or most of their Bitcoin when the exchange holding all their Bitcoin folded suddenly** (Mt Gox, FlexCoin, TradeHill. BitStamp, etc., etc., etc.)
**Typically claiming that they lost all their Bitcoin because they were "hacked" but more likely just theft by the owner of the exchange.
Re: (Score:1)
Here we go again with the full retard "people lost all their Bitcoins because everyone stored their coins on exchanges".
As if wallet applications and paper wallet do not exist and people are obligated to store their coins on exchanges.
Re: (Score:2)
No one is "storing" its bitcoins on an exchange service.
They are on my hard disk, on my back up and on several USB sticks/drives.
Re: (Score:2)
No one is "storing" its bitcoins on an exchange service.
Don't say No One. People who didn't understand the counterparty risks before buying BTC and how to mitigate them may have.
Re: (Score:2)
Meanwhile, people who bought in 2014 or earlier, and held, lost all or most of their Bitcoin when the exchange holding all their Bitcoin folded suddenly
If You knew what you were doing AND bought with intent to hold, then chances are your coins were in an Offline wallet, and not lost during the Mt.Gox issues.
On the other hand: If you bought and were intending to trade, so kept your BTC with the Exchange, then you were screwed.
This will all end in tears (Score:2)
Bitcoin and related crypto-currency is bullshit and this will all end in tears. Governments are trying to clamp down on cash but haven't worked out that this is easier to manipulate and even better for criminals. Some governments are trying to tax it with goods and service taxes as if it's a product. Do they also tax money exchange at 10%-20%? This makes it undesirable for criminal and legitimate trader alike. While they're busy trying to regulated criminals will continue to laugh and use the unregulated ve
Re: (Score:2)