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Coinbase valued above $100B, ahead of direct listing

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Re: Coinbase valued above $100B, ahead of direct listing

#281
post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but this is not inflation. Inflation is an increase in the price level. When some prices are up and others down so that there is no general increase in prices, we cannot speak of inflation.

What prices are down? Big Macs? Flat screen TVs? Crap from Walmart? How about the actual things you need: housing, groceries, college, gas, electricity, a vacation? Due to the pressure on government to keep inflation low to avoid devaluing their dollar inflation is a gamed number and the goal posts have been moved to keep it low so things look good. Meanwhile the price on everything that I buy or want to buy is throu…

In the Bay Area I've seen groceries creep up a bit but basically everything I buy(rent, fuel, consumer goods, information/entertainment services) has stayed the same over the last year or two.

Now, thanks to economic inequality, I think a lot of folks are feeling effective inflation, but the true value we define as 'inflation' has not risen much yet. Sure, some things are up, but they're not included in the calculation of 'inflation' so it makes sense to talk about them in different terms, I think.

Re: Coinbase valued above $100B, ahead of direct listing

#282
post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could be true, but the "de" in "defi" prevents it from killing Coinbase's main purpose, which is being the fiat -> crypto gateway.

True, it is a challenge do do a decentralized on/off ramp. But it is also questionable if that’s worth $100B valuation, too, without everything else they do.

It probably isn't itself, but as long as they're able to provide an attractive centralized alternative to the things happening in defi, they can capture a lot of that growth. Custody, trading, wallet, etc.

A successful model for Coinbase at this point is probably what Google does: let others innovate, clone the ideas once they start becoming popular, keep them under an umbrella and provide easy integration/movement among them.

Re: Coinbase valued above $100B, ahead of direct listing

#283
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm really starting to wonder what makes sense to hold? Maybe I need to start looking into land prices. And for that I mean forest or agricultural...

With land you'll have to pay property tax, which will be impacted by inflation as the land will be reappraised. Just something to keep in mind.

A lot of states have tax breaks for ag land, or land that doesn't contain a permanent dwelling. Taxes overall can be quite low in rural counties regardless. And even with property tax, money can be made leasing the land to farmers or timbering it. There is plenty of value to be had in owning land. Plenty to be lost too, sure if you don't know what you're doing.

Re: Coinbase valued above $100B, ahead of direct listing

#284
post #155

Perhaps a dumb question: why is Coinbase even entertaining an IPO? Give away shares for fiat money? Isn't that antithetical to what they're trying to do?

If you built a giant business trading Beanie Babies would you want to cash it out for Beanie Babies or greenbacks?

Re: Coinbase valued above $100B, ahead of direct listing

#285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t cash losing value the definition of inflation?

conceptually holding more cash than you can usefully spend reduces your cash value and doesn't have to happen with inflation I remember Buffets letter to shareholders apologising Berkshire Hathaway wasn't able to continue delivering the same historic returns because that trajectory would require them to own every publicly traded asset in the world after ten more years. even now you can potentially eliminate the major…

This seems more like chasing yield and less like cash losing value or being a bad asset. Cash obviously has benefits to hold and that isn’t changing soon.

Re: Coinbase valued above $100B, ahead of direct listing

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What prices are down? Big Macs? Flat screen TVs? Crap from Walmart? How about the actual things you need: housing, groceries, college, gas, electricity, a vacation? Due to the pressure on government to keep inflation low to avoid devaluing their dollar inflation is a gamed number and the goal posts have been moved to keep it low so things look good. Meanwhile the price on everything that I buy or want to buy is throu…

In the Bay Area I've seen groceries creep up a bit but basically everything I buy(rent, fuel, consumer goods, information/entertainment services) has stayed the same over the last year or two. Now, thanks to economic inequality, I think a lot of folks are feeling effective inflation, but the true value we define as 'inflation' has not risen much yet. Sure, some things are up, but they're not included in the calculati…

Inflation is a general term for when the nominal price of goods increases disproportionately to the intrinsic or real value.

Inflation as represented by CPI is only one measure of inflation. Just because the Fed uses that measure to drive policy doesn't mean there isn't inflation in other areas of the economy, like housing.

Re: Coinbase valued above $100B, ahead of direct listing

#287
post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Inflation isn't high at all. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FPCPITOTLZGUSA

Latest data I saw showed factory input prices are up but not currently being passed on to consumers, possibly because businesses know it will be very poorly received by both consumers and the media. Inflation is coming, but it seems to be inflation driven by supply disruptions and not monetary policy driven inflation. I'm still not 100% on board with the idea, but I've been reading lately that QE is basically low-vel…

Ok. My advice is, if you are interested in economics, get yourself informed from reputable sources, and be always sceptical, but especially of claims made by non-economists who have read some bitcoin whitepaper and think they understand economics.

Re: Coinbase valued above $100B, ahead of direct listing

#288
post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin has no earnings so I don't know how that could possibly work in the case of the bitcoin bubble.

I think growth in value could be substituted for earnings in the case of something like Bitcoin or a stock without dividends

I don't think so, because we're using earnings precisely to assess if the observed increase in value is justified. Stocks without dividends are not a problem, because businesses always have earnings regardless of whether they distribute dividends or not.

Re: Coinbase valued above $100B, ahead of direct listing

#289
post #145

Only tangentially related: How do bitcoin network costs scale with market price? We can expect the marginal cost to mine a coin to scale with price. So if btc worth $52,000 then people will invest on average $52,000 in equipment and electricity. There are 6.5 coins mined every 10 min. So daily network cost approximates to 6.5 * 6 * 24 * $52,000 = $48,000,000 This is not strictly accurate as past equipment costs less…

The maths seem right, but I don't think the 6.5 btc/10 minutes is a given for the future, so you're extrapolation contains the rather large assumption that it stays the same.

Re: Coinbase valued above $100B, ahead of direct listing

#290
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not perfect, but I believe Coinbase uses a combination of cold (offline) storage for most of its coins and insurance for the rest. Also, as you probably already know, people should not hold large sums on exchanges if they can use secure their own keys (and wallets) instead. > "Coinbase prioritizes the security of our customer's digital currency through a combination of online “hot storage” and offline “cold” sto…

You are assuming cold storage can not be "hacked" or "stolen". It is much more difficult at Coinbase scale but such an event would have drastic impact on crypto markets. Coinbase is too big to fail :)

I'm not assuming that. I said "it's not perfect" and simply listed the security measures that I am aware of :)
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