751–760 of 883 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If the last few decades tell us anything, it’s once you’re large and have a lot employees, you’re above any regulation that would put you out of business. Slaps on the wrist are the worst you can expect.
Backpage was pretty big when it was deep sixed by the Feds.
This is pretty amazing. Gary Tan made a YT video about his experience backing them very early and getting a 6000x return: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5YApjnTG10 It's remarkable that Brian Armstrong gave up what would have been very valuable options in Airbnb—the most valuable YC company at the time—to found a new company that surpassed it.
Airbnb market cap is at 105 billion and Coinbase is currently at 86. Personally I'm very sceptical that current valuation for Coinbase is justified. It is a great company for sure but there definitely arent similar network effects as with Airbnb. There's plenty of competition in the crypto exchange space.
There is a whole professional services coinbase for institutional investors, custody, etc that has a huge potential.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'm still not sure why the hammer hasn't come down on something like Coinbase by now Perhaps you have a answered yourself: “re-centralizing everything in a place that is easily and instantly censored by the exact system it was built to replace”.
If compromising the permissionlessness of Bitcoin is the only way for Bitcoin to come to a certain market, then perhaps it would be better for companies like Coinbase not to exist, and people who want to use Bitcoin should have to take the steps involved in self-custody. To me, it's a shame to see. Now that Gmail and Coinbase have captured so much of their markets, they (or anyone who can coerce them) are now free to…
Compare Coinbase to say a major exchange like the NYSE. Realize that crypto is a space that could be damaged by gov intervention at any time. Realize that there is very little lock in effect on these markets, and fees are becoming less and less over time. How does Coinbase ever manage to justify a valuation this high? 100B.... Ping me when the stock price is under $100.
Agreed. I'm doing a little side project with my brokerage account where I pick 20 good socks and 20 bad stocks. Sell the bad ones short and double down on the good ones. That's how hedge funds work. It's interesting because as long as your picks are mostly right you can make money regardless of of the market is going up or down. Plus it'll be fun to say I started a hedge fund at parties. Coinbase is my number 1 bad p…
Fun trivia: Brian Armstrong was looking for a co-founder on HN back in 2012: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3754664
kinda ironic how in his post he's trying to compete on fees
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Amazing to see. But what I find interesting is that his vision was way off- crypto is nowhere near replacing credit cards, now or in the future. But he did build a huge company because crypto became a speculative asset bubble instead.
> crypto is nowhere near replacing credit cards, now or in the future. Bitcoin - not. On the other hand, modern altcoins who are faster, PoS-based, low fees, etc are on the path to exactly this.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, but you also can't take your house with you stored in your brain if you have to flee the country. Bitcoin as chaos insurance (or schmuck insurance as Chamath calls it) is the use case that makes the most sense to me.
do you really think if the sh*t hit the fan? the entire BTC network and the internet at large would still be working for you to transfer these units around? this to me is where the comparison to gold falls off. i can hold physical gold and silver and trade it at will even without power, pricing updates, etc. this does not apply to crypto. considering cutting internet access is now a normal thing during unrest, being…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
it wouldn't even take a global internet shortage, just your country to go offline, how you gonna pay someone to get you out(keep you safe, etc) if you cant transfer your crypto to them? A few ounces of gold on the other hand will take you anywhere you want to go. Crypto is far from a safe hedge in any type of crazy event. you see, gold can still be traded without power and internet, as could cash or really anything p…
It doesn't need to be usable through the crisis to still have value. Holding the private keys will still help preserve some of your wealth through to the other side so you don't have to start over with nothing. You can flee with some gold, but I'd expect that to all be taken from you by the border guards or smugglers you have to pay off to get out. They can't take your bitcoin if they don't know you have it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bitcoin is perfect for mass surveillance and privacy invasion. It's as if all transactions, of any size, can be perpetually tracked, with a courtroom-ready digital signature reducing evidence doubt about who made a transaction.
Also, unlike traditional banks, there is absolutely nothing preventing someone from reviewing that transaction record. No need to ask a judge for permission, no need to ask the bank to reveal records, no need to let anyone -- anyone -- know what you are up to.