Coinbase Wants Wall Street To Resolve Its Bitcoin Trust Issues (bloomberg.com) 49
In an effort to use digital money to reinvent finance, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is trying to legitimize itself by convincing big money managers to trust it enough to trade on its exchange. They need to "reassure regulators that bitcoin isn't a silk road for hackers, money launderers and tax evaders," reports Bloomberg. From the report: Despite the table tennis, Coinbase shows glimmers of maturity. More than 10 million customers have used the company since it began, though it recently quit updating the tally on its website. About $57 billion of digital currency has traded on the exchange so far this year. It doubled its staff in that time and expects to do so again in 2018. Ultimately, Coinbase plans to go public. The firm said it's prevailed against security threats, helping it avoid the fate of Mt. Gox, the world's biggest bitcoin exchange before shutting its doors in 2014 after $480 million of customer funds went bye-bye. Coinbase stores 98 percent of users' digital currencies in offline safe-deposit boxes. The remaining 2 percent, which is vulnerable because it's online, is covered by insurance. The company holds more than $10 billion in digital assets. Developing ties with banks is one of the biggest challenges. Coinbase doesn't publicly disclose its banking relationships, but a person familiar with the matter said the company is partnering with Cross River Bank, Metropolitan Bank and Silvergate Bank in the U.S.
Interesting (Score:4, Insightful)
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IF dumbness was a currency, 80% of the planet would be rich overnight....
You're not rich if everybody is rich.
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At least drop the pretense that we don't have enough money to give everyone a basic income. The rich can still play games of imposed artificial scarcity in virtual realms like with bitcoin. They'll be fine. They'll still be rich in virtual scarce items, but everyone will have access to the vast, persistent surplus of food and other provisions we have figured out how to produce. Drop the physical scarcity hype, please. You will still be rich and be able to exclude ppl virtually.
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And fiat cash including USD is currency for buying children's sex, human slavery, etc. So what's your point?
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Yeah, it's also the current currency of choice for foreign money laundering and ransomware payments. What's your point?
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Only a small part of the world's population has ever heard of bitcoin.
Once everyone knows it and owns a part for speculation, then it's a bubble.
The value of one bitcoin will be some millions USD by that time.
Linked story unrelated to post blurb (Score:3)
The headline seems pretty inflammatory and off-base. I'd look at TFA but the link goes to some other story that doesn't mention Coinbase.
Scam artist. (Score:1)
Wall streets always looking for new ways to profit. If bitcoin wasnâ(TM)t a giant scam they would have already embraced it.
Re:Scam artist. (Score:4, Insightful)
The .com stocks of 1998-1999 were a total scam, but it didn't stop Wall Street from profiting from them. I think that they're just pissed because they haven't figured out how to charge large commissions and underwriting fees for trading it, yet.
Wait and See (Score:1)
until after the bubble bursts, then you can see what makes sense and what doesn't.
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I'm not so sure the bubble will burst. Since Bitcoin has an upper bound on the total amount of Bitcoins, it seems like it might have a chance at becoming like a collector's item, especially as it has significance as the first successfully implemented cryptocurrency.
but if you get 51% of the power then you change ru (Score:2)
but if you get 51% of the power then you can change the rules of bit coin. Also the caps are to low for it to work as an day to day thing.
Huh? (Score:2)
Coinbase stores 98 percent of users' digital currencies in offline safe-deposit boxes
Using external USB drives?
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I'd think archival paper and ink
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I'd think archival paper and ink
If you've been watching Mr. Robot, you might reconsider that backup strategy...
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Coinbase definitely uses plain old printed paper wallets, spread among many safe deposit boxes.
Half the story. (Score:2)
bitcoin isn't a silk road for hackers, money launderers and tax evaders,"
Except when it is.
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Valid for everything in the Universe.
Dangerous wish (Score:3)
This a dangerous thing for Coinbase to wish for. Once mainstream financial firms are involved, the regulators will want Coinbase to act more like a real exchange, or at least a real crossing network. With lots of regulations. It's a tremendous burden that existing exchanges have already hurdled.
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Actually we don't care (Score:2)
"Traditional investors like crooked, lying, manipulative Wall Street assholes can fuck off and stay out og bitcoin. We don't care what you think." - Sincerely, everyone in the bitcoin community.
Trust cuts both ways, sir (Score:2)
Coinbase is struggling to keep up with demand. And while that's going on, it's a mess. Wire transfers go missing, and customer support is a joke. Is your $90K in limbo? No problem, just call their... oh wait, the people who answer the phone have zero power to do anything. Anything at all.
Oh, so just submit a support ticket. Good luck getting a replay. Or, like me, watch your case just vanish into the ether.
No, Coinbase cannot be trusted with your money. Not at the moment.
Laundromat (Score:1)
Funny (Score:2)
Because actual traders (not the amateurs currently pushing the Bitcoin bubble) know what a bubble is and know that Bitcoin is pure hot air and extremely high risk. Sure, they also fall for bubbes, but not when it is this blatantly obvious. So no, "Wall Street" does not have a trust issue here. They just see what is.
Fuck that and fuck you (Score:2)
Rolling up untrustworthy and fluctuating investments with actual valued ones is exactly how the crash in the mid 00s happened. Coinbase wants Wall Street money and doesn't care if they fuck up our economy in the process.
With such giant daily/weekly fluxations... (Score:2)
Is anybody actually buying anything tangible with them? There was the guy that used two BTC a few years ago to buy a pizza (which is now probably a $20k pizza). This seems like the digital equivalent of beanie babies...