Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Winklevoss Twins’ Bitcoin Exchange

gemini.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 93 posts

Re: Winklevoss Twins’ Bitcoin Exchange

#71

Post by ryanworl »

bko wrote: post #11
ryanworl wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is written fairly. Bitcoins and not dollars, and the rest of those things you listed that are covered by FDIC insurance are denominated in dollars. If someone (not you specifically) cannot understand the difference between dollars and bitcoins, they shouldn't be trading currencies.

Well, some people want exposure to bitcoins without necessarily understanding the block chain, recourse or anything really. That's the whole pitch behind everything the Winklevosses do in this domain. That's why they opened a bitcoin exchange traded fund and that's probably their rationale behind this exchange. Saying that "your dollars are eligible for FDIC insurance and never leave the country" makes someone think…

I didn't mean in the sense of not understanding Bitcoin itself. Rather, I meant that the FDIC isn't in the business of insuring Bitcoins, the same as they aren't into insuring RMB or any other non-USD currency.

Re: Winklevoss Twins’ Bitcoin Exchange

#72

Post by sjclemmy »

7Figures2Commas wrote: post #65
sjclemmy wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you take the view that Bitcoin is just the start and the popularity of the blockchain to secure financial transactions will grow and become mainstream over time then this has first mover advantage written all over it.

> ...this has first mover advantage written all over it. No, it doesn't. Major financial institutions invest significantly in technology and many are already actively exploring the blockchain[1]. I wouldn't go so far as to say that the Winklevii can't stake out a position in the broader blockchain market, but a Bitcoin exchange isn't likely to help them establish a meaningful position. [1] http://www.bloomberg.com/ne…

Perhaps 'early' mover advantage might be a better choice of words.

> Major financial institutions invest significantly in technology...

That they may be, but that's no guarantee of success or domination. That's the whole point of the risk of startup. Also the reason for the explosion of interest. I'm not suggesting that Gemini will win, but they are in the space, at the beginning, unencumbered by old tech (as the larger institutions are) and are making overtures to the established order. We don't know where that will lead.

Re: Winklevoss Twins’ Bitcoin Exchange

#73

Post by haakon »

redcalx wrote: post #41
haakon wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not quite; there are two separate attacks currently ongoing against Bitcoin: * The malleability attack: a transaction relayer is able to change the hash of the transactions, thus confusing senders or receivers who rely on this hash to check if the transaction has confirmed. This creates a nuisance, but all money arrive where they are supposed to. This attack does not affect memory usage on nodes, and it's an old and…

Why do you say it's misleadingly called a stress test? Regardless of motives it is effectively stressing the bitcoin network AFAIK.

It's stressing the network, but it's not a test - it's an attack.

Re: Winklevoss Twins’ Bitcoin Exchange

#74

Post by 7Figures2Commas »

sjclemmy wrote: post #72
7Figures2Commas wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...this has first mover advantage written all over it. No, it doesn't. Major financial institutions invest significantly in technology and many are already actively exploring the blockchain[1]. I wouldn't go so far as to say that the Winklevii can't stake out a position in the broader blockchain market, but a Bitcoin exchange isn't likely to help them establish a meaningful position. [1] http://www.bloomberg.com/ne…

Perhaps 'early' mover advantage might be a better choice of words. > Major financial institutions invest significantly in technology... That they may be, but that's no guarantee of success or domination. That's the whole point of the risk of startup. Also the reason for the explosion of interest. I'm not suggesting that Gemini will win, but they are in the space, at the beginning, unencumbered by old tech (as the lar…

The most viable opportunity relates to the application of blockchain technology to existing markets that are already dominated by major financial institutions. There is no doubt room for new companies to become blockchain technology providers to these financial institutions, but if you look at the Winklevii's investments and ventures, they are predominantly "Bitcoin as a big asset class" as opposed to "pure blockchain technology."

That's not to say that some of the technology they develop can't be repurposed for resale to other institutions, but a lot of others are already playing in the blockchain technology space and they don't have the burdens of trying to create and manage exchanges, ETFs, etc. for an "asset class" that is miniscule and heading in the wrong direction.

Re: Winklevoss Twins’ Bitcoin Exchange

#76

Post by scient »

artursapek wrote: post #10

It's live! You can see there is some activity starting: https://cryptowat.ch/gemini Also, there was a great post on /r/bitcoinmarkets by the CTO of another exchange, picking apart Gemini's technical setup. Worth a read if you're into modern frontend web development. https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMarkets/comments/3nkxh3/gemi...

I would not consider going over their frontend assets and request headers anything close to picking apart their technical setup though. For anyone a little more knowledgeable that post is just a collection of random facts about the apps visible front-end.

Re: Winklevoss Twins’ Bitcoin Exchange

#77

Post by STRML »

sandGorgon wrote: post #68
artursapek wrote: post #10

It's live! You can see there is some activity starting: https://cryptowat.ch/gemini Also, there was a great post on /r/bitcoinmarkets by the CTO of another exchange, picking apart Gemini's technical setup. Worth a read if you're into modern frontend web development. https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMarkets/comments/3nkxh3/gemi...

interesting... still doesnt talk about the actual API stack though. Conformal is using golang and Coinbase is using Ruby... wonder what these guys are using.

Hey - author of that post here. I can't tell for sure what the stack is by looking at its output, but judging by common experience in the LinkedIn profiles of the engineers, it looks most likely that it's Scala.

Re: Winklevoss Twins’ Bitcoin Exchange

#78

Post by STRML »

scient wrote: post #76
artursapek wrote: post #10

It's live! You can see there is some activity starting: https://cryptowat.ch/gemini Also, there was a great post on /r/bitcoinmarkets by the CTO of another exchange, picking apart Gemini's technical setup. Worth a read if you're into modern frontend web development. https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMarkets/comments/3nkxh3/gemi...

I would not consider going over their frontend assets and request headers anything close to picking apart their technical setup though. For anyone a little more knowledgeable that post is just a collection of random facts about the apps visible front-end.

Yes, that's true - it was a loosely categorized collection of my thoughts while going through the frontend. The frontend architecture is very similar to that of BitMEX, the exchange that I built, so I am very interested in the choices they've made, why they chose them, and what's different.

Gemini is a spot exchange (simple buy/sell) while we're a derivatives exchange with much more complex requirements, so you'd expect a different set of decisions and tradeoffs, which is what I found. Gemini's real value (at this point) is in its ability to navigate regulatory capture, not necessarily in its technology. But their technology is a cut above what you usually see in Bitcoin exchanges. The exchange landscape has been plagued with unreliable/buggy exchanges, like the late Mt.Gox and the still-limping Bitfinex (which is much more complex).

On the whole, basic spot exchanges without leverage are relatively easy to create. I would love to do a more complete analysis but of course I don't have any inside information. I would be very interested in their backend, which appears to (possibly) be Scala. No clues as to whether they're using a SQL database or something more specialized like KDB+, which we use and love.

Re: Winklevoss Twins’ Bitcoin Exchange

#79

Post by cenal »

dtwhitney wrote: post #40
tetrep wrote: post #34

They have a reassuring security page[0]. It's nice to see they're enforcing good practices, I especially appreciate their "no-link email policy" where they will never send you links in emails, which seems like a great way to head off phishing attempts. I hope they actually present this to users in some way during sign-up though, or it won't be of much help unless a user manually navigates to the security page and rea…

I personally know many of the engineers at Gemini and have worked with some of them in the recent past. If I were going to choose a team to build a bitcoin exchange, the people I know at Gemini would be on it. If you're into bitcoin, I think this is the place to put your money.

What benefit do they offer over something like Coinbase to a casual Bitcoin observer like me?

Re: Winklevoss Twins’ Bitcoin Exchange

#80

Post by scient »

gregwtmtno wrote: post #6

Very slick identity verification process. Instead of requiring a scan of your driver's license or other identifying document, they ask you for questions about your history. I've seen a similar process used at etrade.

It is also fairly easy to spoof, especially given the number of PII leaks in the recent years.
Post reply on HN