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Coinbase raises $100M Series D led by IVP

blog.coinbase.com

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Re: Coinbase raises $100M Series D led by IVP

#171

Post by sp527 »

tenaciousDaniel wrote: post #100
aresant wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fascinating how many questions / comments in this thread question if crypto currency macro even has a use case in this world. And for good reason. Is it a currency? Yes and no. Is it a store of value? Yes and no but sure is volatile. Is primary use case illegal transactions? Definitely, sometimes. Is it a anarchist mechanism to shelter wealth and detach from any nation state? Yes absolutely, probably most of the Chin…

Exactly. Though I think that so many people having invested so much money at such an early stage in this technology's development is the reason why the scrutiny is off the charts. Everyone, from naysayers to evangelists, need to cool off a bit and realize that this stuff is brand new. I'm 110% confident that cryptocurrency in general will yield some very interesting things in the next few decades. But I'm 0% confiden…

What's weird is how often I see this argument and how loudly it contrasts with the speed of software development and the variety of preposterous things already being attempted in the space.

Re: Coinbase raises $100M Series D led by IVP

#173

Post by ojr »

Torai wrote: post #12
phaed wrote: post #9

That money would have had better upside if invested in bitcoin directly.

I guess they prefer selling shovels in a gold rush.

invest in the high profit margin exchange or invest in one of the high volatility assets the exchange is selling? I would invest in both as a hedge.

Re: Coinbase raises $100M Series D led by IVP

#174

Post by solotronics »

fpgaminer wrote: post #98
anilshanbhag wrote: post #58

Coinbase makes a killing with their fees. The spread between the buy and sell prices on coinbase are 1-1.2%. On top, their bank transfer charges are proportional to amount transferred instead of standard flat fee. I wonder why they need another $100M ! For people who want to buy, I would recommend Kraken - they have much higher volume and sane pricing. There are others too like Bitfinex, Poloneix, etc.

It's important to note that Coinbase also operates an exchange, GDAX, that anyone can get access to. The fees for limit orders on GDAX are currently 0%, and there are no transaction fees for withdrawal (at least on USD->Bank account or BTC withdrawals). I'm not sure if GDAX has any deposit fees. Buying/selling directly on Coinbase is merely for convenience, and obviously you're going to pay for that convenience. I'm…

the fees for market making orders is 0% other orders is about 0.25% (better if you are trading more). market making is when you place an order that is not instantaneously filled.

Re: Coinbase raises $100M Series D led by IVP

#175

Post by Diederich »

skizm wrote: post #55
stanmancan wrote: post #35

I'm pretty naive on the subject of Bitcoin so I might be missing something here, but can someone explain to me how it's used right now? Aside from treating BTC like a stock that is. The value of it fluctuates so much that actually buying/accepting it seems incredibly risky. The price can go down just as fast as it goes up. As a someone looking make purchases with BTC; if the value of a BTC is going up, why would I us…

Bitcoin purists will say that, eventually, there is no "cash out" phase. 1 BTC = 1 BTC and who cares about what the dollar equivalent happens to be. Once everything is in BTC you will never exchange it for dollars. Do you spend dollars today wondering if tomorrow the Euro will be worth more or less? No, so why would you care what the dollar equivalent to a BTC is when everything you buy is priced in BTC? This is long…

> ~21 million BTC is the max that can ever exist at once

Just to clarify: it's not that there can only be 21 million BTC 'at once'...unless there's a big change in its design that the majority support.

There will only be 21 million BTC ever. If the keys for 1 million of them are lost, then those will never be replaced.

Re: Coinbase raises $100M Series D led by IVP

#176

Post by [deleted] »

solotronics wrote: post #174
fpgaminer wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's important to note that Coinbase also operates an exchange, GDAX, that anyone can get access to. The fees for limit orders on GDAX are currently 0%, and there are no transaction fees for withdrawal (at least on USD->Bank account or BTC withdrawals). I'm not sure if GDAX has any deposit fees. Buying/selling directly on Coinbase is merely for convenience, and obviously you're going to pay for that convenience. I'm…

the fees for market making orders is 0% other orders is about 0.25% (better if you are trading more). market making is when you place an order that is not instantaneously filled.

[deleted]

Re: Coinbase raises $100M Series D led by IVP

#177

Post by discombobulate »

lesiva wrote: post #4

So I'm late to the digital currency game. What are the regular use cases for digital currency? Who accepts it? Is it mostly for person-to-person trading?

It's 'crypto currency'. It's not centralised M-Pesa (African digital currency created by Vodafone), or PayPal.

If you don't understand what it is, you may buy the wrong crypto asset. I think it's fair to say it's a good idea to know what you're investing in!

Re: Coinbase raises $100M Series D led by IVP

#178

Post by discombobulate »

mtgx wrote: post #93
stanmancan wrote: post #35

I'm pretty naive on the subject of Bitcoin so I might be missing something here, but can someone explain to me how it's used right now? Aside from treating BTC like a stock that is. The value of it fluctuates so much that actually buying/accepting it seems incredibly risky. The price can go down just as fast as it goes up. As a someone looking make purchases with BTC; if the value of a BTC is going up, why would I us…

Even though Bitcoin was initially called a cryptocurrency, I think it's now becoming more clear that cryptocurrencies are more like "cryptoassets" [1] or crypto commodities. Some of the people who started calling it digital gold a while back got it right. Using Bitcoin is more like using gold (not necessarily physical gold) to pay for stuff. Gold's value also fluctuates significantly over one year's time. [1] - https…

That's questionable. I believe there may be an issue with the economic model if there aren't sufficient transactions (once the issuance starts to slow). Not enough crypto for the miners. They then don't support the network. The network is then less secure. The price then reflects the lack of security.

There's thinking that the winning crypto(s) currency will be both gold + currency.

Re: Coinbase raises $100M Series D led by IVP

#179

Post by discombobulate »

pedrocr wrote: post #87
zjaffee wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of these things are no different than holding large amounts of normal cash(of any currency really) or something such as gold, with the exception of their being a ledger of all trades that have occurred. Also bitcoins can certainly be seized by the government should they size control over any accounts you hold coins in, take your computers, ect (it's just harder to do so). Also I think your missing the biggest us…

>crypto currencies are by far the best digital payment solution when it comes to the time it takes for transactions to clear Isn't paypal much faster than crypto currencies at doing the same? The normal banking system is quite slow (in part for good reasons) but the digital currencies that came before the crypto currencies are much better at this already, and better than bitcoin will ever be.

Coinbase uses the term 'digital currency' to -- I believe -- placate NY regulators & to support their regulation moat.

You're correct: if crypto currencies were digital currencies there would be no advantage. However, crypto assets are decentralised & resistant to censorship. The power shifts away from the nation state (& Trump), & toward individuals.

Re: Coinbase raises $100M Series D led by IVP

#180

Post by csuwldcat »

tlrobinson wrote: post #151
droidist2 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting question. Since there's a limited supply theoretically on a long enough timeline every BTC will be lost.

Currently Bitcoins can be divided to 8 decimal places, and if eventually that's not enough the protocol can be upgraded.

Correct - you can increase the units in circulation without destroying the purchasing power of those who currently hold the asset, which is a huge advantage over traditional fiat currency.
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