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Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

blog.coinbase.com

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Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#321

Post by jeremyjh »

kudu wrote: post #292
mbesto wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But....did you use your Coinbase account to conduct any illegal transactions? You didn't answer a very straight forward question.

Does it matter? In what world is Coinbase a judge, jury and executioner who can determine if a Bitcoin transaction is 'legal' or 'illegal' with absolute certainty?

The law absolutely requires them to stop doing business with - and report on - people who they have good reason to believe fall into money laundering, terrorist financing and other KYC financial crimes categories. Their safest - and cheapest - way to comply is use rather shallow and heavily automated systems to score their customers and react accordingly.

Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#322

Post by drcode »

teach wrote: post #214
drcode wrote: post #39

Just a reminder to Bitcoin newbies: This card looks like an OK product (still open questions about how much coinbase is gaming the ask/bid spread) but just realize that this card does NOT use Bitcoin, it uses "Coinbase Bitcoin"[1] which is Bitcoin for which the coinbase company is managing your private key: You only truly own Bitcoins if you own the private key for the account (users of MtGox learn this the hard way…

*piece-meal As in, one piece at a time.

You got me :-)

Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#323

Post by pakled_engineer »

FooNull wrote: post #299
largehotcoffee wrote: post #285

I cannot recommend Coinbase at all. I operate an adult comic book publisher and they shutdown our account without notice and gave no real reason for their action. All support tickets took 3 - 5 days to get a reply and it was always unhelpful. For a company like ours the whole appeal of Bitcoin is the anonymity, so our readers don't have to worry about buying lewd comics and having it show up on their statements. Coin…

Can you recommend something better? Can anyone in this comment section recommend a better service? I'm an artist who wants to use bitcoins for nearly an identical reason. However, there have been two big limiting factors, which have prevented my supporters and artist peers from using bitcoin. 1) It isn't clear how they get money into and out of the system. - The artists don't want a bunch of 'bitcoins' that they don'…

There's also Bitpay, they do the same thing coinbase does for merchants in fact most of the exchanges have some kind of merchant API so you can immediately sell coins.

You could also make an agreement with somebody on your localbitcoins.com city listing, but then you run into fees and possibly fluctuations since they won't be a 24/7 service like bitpay or coinbase. Localbitcoins may have an API to automatically make a sell listing I'm not sure, I use IRC still to trade.

Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#324

Post by School-Cotton »

01Michael10 wrote: post #196
soared wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The risk of what? Coinbase stealing everyone users bitcoins and running away? Better not use any bank, credit union, or money transferring service to stay safe.

Banks, credit unions, and money transferring institutions are heavy regulated businesses that have to follow rules. Money you have in bank and credit union accounts are also insured. Coinbase is a private company that is barely regulated. Any money put into Bitcoins should be money you are willing to lose.

Edit: meant to reply to your parent.

Sorry dude but I can't down vote this hard enough. Please read about the history of Bitcoin exchanges, and for that matter the history of banks. They arent trustworthy, and become insolvent all the time. The FDIC exists for a reason.

Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#325

Post by T3RMINATED »

largehotcoffee wrote: post #285

I cannot recommend Coinbase at all. I operate an adult comic book publisher and they shutdown our account without notice and gave no real reason for their action. All support tickets took 3 - 5 days to get a reply and it was always unhelpful. For a company like ours the whole appeal of Bitcoin is the anonymity, so our readers don't have to worry about buying lewd comics and having it show up on their statements. Coin…

i was Banned too

Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#326

Post by Adlai »

personjerry wrote: post #308
tjohns wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin is decentralized, but it's definitely not private. Every transaction is recorded publicly in the blockchain. Some folks are very good at backtracking to figure out how funds are flowing through the network. And sometimes it's not even hard, especially if you reuse a wallet's address for receiving funds across multiple transactions. In particular, there was an article alleging that Coinbase keeps a list of sus…

But if the anonymity can be deciphered as such, then why does the Silk Road rely on Bitcoin?

Bitcoin transactions are much harder to censor than conventional fiat transfers, but the transaction graph is completely transparent.

Check out https://www.walletexplorer.com/

Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#327

Post by leoc »

beaner wrote: post #295
statoshi wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Otherwise you are just holding onto IOUs for dollars.

The bank has a legal obligation to fulfill those IOUs, which in practical terms is essentially as good as "owning" the dollars. There is always the risk of a Bernie Sanders kind of scam, but it's rare enough and regulation is heavy enough that for the common person it's not a real concern, or worth worrying about. Coinbase is regulated similarly, though obviously they are young and have to continue to prove themselve…

(Madoff, right?)

Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#328

Post by Adlai »

adrianmacneil wrote: post #205
egd wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you point me to some of the consensus protocol work? That's always seemed to be the more interesting aspect of BTC to me, but the other requirements of the currency have made that harder than just the smart contracts alone.

https://www.ethereum.org/ and https://www.stellar.org/ are two interesting ones to check out.

Stellar has a consensus protocol?

Last I checked, there's a single blessed node dishing out verifiable data. It's nicer than having a remote API that just hands you a trusted number, but it's a far cry from Nakamoto Consensus.

Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#329

Post by vkou »

automathematics wrote: post #315
eli wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My bank deposits are FDIC insured

Worth mentioning, Coinbase has some kind of insurance: https://support.coinbase.com/customer/portal/articles/166237...

This is only insurance for their hot wallet (Quite literally, the cash that a bank would keep in their teller registers.) The overwhelming majority of their deposits are not insured.

Re: Introducing the Shift Card: Use Bitcoin where Visa is accepted

#330

Post by gohrt »

largehotcoffee wrote: post #285

I cannot recommend Coinbase at all. I operate an adult comic book publisher and they shutdown our account without notice and gave no real reason for their action. All support tickets took 3 - 5 days to get a reply and it was always unhelpful. For a company like ours the whole appeal of Bitcoin is the anonymity, so our readers don't have to worry about buying lewd comics and having it show up on their statements. Coin…

$5000 seems substantial enough to involve law enforcement. Presumably Coinbase performed a transaction involving them receiving BTC, and then instructing you to deliver your product. Why would they not pay you as soon as you deliver, unless they are making a fraud claim on behalf of their customer?
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