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Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

coindesk.com

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Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#861

Post by nr2x »

kayamon wrote: post #736
sytelus wrote: post #503

I don't understand why Coinbase is feeling such a crunch. They are just middleman in buying and selling. Their advantage is supposed to be that they make money whether crypto goes up or down. How can they screw this up?

Your question assumes money custodians behave in an honest fashion. An honest bank or exchange would simply keep your coins stored safely for you. But many places aren't honest, and make their money not from the transaction fees but by lending out the coins you've got stored there to someone else. As long as people don't all ask for their coins back at the same time, this works great for them. Your coins will be ente…

Not your key? Not your coin.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#862

Post by Spivak »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #214

How did they possibly employ that many to begin with?

I feel like people ignore that most areas of a business grow in lock step with its size and that IT is the exception not the rule.

Like insurance companies and banks are just as much “tech” as anything else in crypto and nobody balks at them having skyscrapers plural worth of employees.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#863

Post by selcuka »

massysett wrote: post #794
Apocryphon wrote: post #617

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you're saying all of those figures were more motivated by money rather than building something of value. Do you truly think they were more motivated by money than by glory, a competitive spirit, a desire for legacy?

Money is how they measure glory, its how the competition is scored, and it’s how they buy legacy. There are people who are not motivated by money, but they’re not billionaires. They’re professors, priests, politicians, etc. Pope Francis has achieved more glory and fame than nearly any billionaire CEO. Yes, the billions is hugely motivational to those who have them.

> Money is how they measure glory, its how the competition is scored

They can still own the trillion dollar company for glory and fame; they just can't cash out.

Also I don't think there should be a cap, but the tax rate should go up indefinitely, causing diminishing returns for higher earners. I pay a higher percentage of tax if my employer pays me more, but I still prefer higher paying jobs.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#864

Post by selcuka »

kortilla wrote: post #844
greycol wrote: post #703

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you could push a button once an hour that gave $1,000 to you and $99,000 to the government you are saying you'd feel like you're being punished for pushing it? Let's not pretend that billionares are working 1.44 million hours a week to earn 18000 times what the janitor earns working two jobs in an 80 hour week. The quality of a billionaires 'work' is different than 'real work' so what you feel intuitevely about wo…

There is no button. That framing is dumb because it implies no risk and no alternative locations where capital can be applied with the same risk and lower taxation.

> alternative locations where capital can be applied with the same risk and lower taxation.

They are already doing that, so what would be the difference?

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#865

Post by refurb »

panda-giddiness wrote: post #149
tomcam wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are plenty of people in the world who would think that anything over $500/month is way more than enough for one person. Should your compensation be reduced to that amount? Does someone earning more than you hurt you? Also… do billionaires employ people? Do you want their employees to have their jobs seized from them when the johny555 tax goes into effect?

> There are plenty of people in the world who would think that anything over $500/month is way more than enough for one person. Should your compensation be reduced to that amount? This is an absurd slippery slope, and a bizarre appeal to "plenty of people" to boot. There is a significant and categorical difference between $500/mo and $1 billion. You undermine your own point by not addressing it. In fact, if there wer…

It's a thought exercise and by examining extreme you start to see holes in the theory.

It's the same problem when it comes to tax increases - everyone thinks raises taxes on everyone else is a great idea, themselves? Oh, not me, I'm not rich.

This even happens on HN which is a pretty well off crowd. When the SALT deduction was capped everyone complained - even the same ones that claimed "I'm fine paying higher taxes".

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#866

Post by quickthrower2 »

kortilla wrote: post #846
bmitc wrote: post #832

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A wealth tax implies a tax on unrealized appreciated assets, which is beyond bizarre IMHO. No, it doesn't. For example, if I'm super rich and take out a loan using unrealized assets as collateral, then I could be taxed on the loan amount received. There are several such strategies that either force the sale of unrealized assets or tax other portions of the transactions when those unrealized assets are used as colla…

The loans have to be paid. No matter how many times you refi, there is a massive tax bill at the end.

If I have a billion in assets and need $1M/y to live, I can live 100 years and still be at a 10% Loan-Value ratio (assuming no growth!).

With some good estate planning there is probably no tax to pay ever.

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#867

Post by quickthrower2 »

_uy6i wrote: post #801
Johnny555 wrote: post #606

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, you mean like the property tax I pay on my unrealized house value? I don't get that tax back if I end up selling my house for half what it was taxed for last year. But I can appeal the evaluation for this year.

Property taxes are a bad idea too.

Not if people living in 'reasonable' properties are not taxed much at all. If a family lives in a 100sqm house, probably should be nothing additional. If they live in 2000sqm mansion, they probably can afford a decent sized tax.

Of course size is not the only factor, which makes it complicated. Land or property value is probably a good proxy. If you house is >$1M it probably means you are wealthy.

Now you get one of two things in each individual case: Either people downsizing (good, frees up property for other people) or people paying tax (good for society).

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#868

Post by shelbyKiraM »

alx__ wrote: post #584
Johnny555 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People keep pointing to Armstrong's $110M house like it's some sort of injustice. If you think billionaires should exist at all, then that's one of the least-bad injustices imaginable Ok, I'll admit it, billionaires should not exist at all, there should be a heavy wealth tax that makes it hard to become a billionaire. Will a CEO work less hard if he (and his peers) can only ever gain $100M in net worth before a wealt…

Christ on a skateboard!? All the temporarily displaced billionaires in this thread are something else. If you require more than 100M in net worth to be "motivated" to work. There's a larger problem with you. Being a CEO/leader doesn't require some skill set that's given to you from some mythical watery being just because you're special.

"I mean, if I went 'round saying I was an emperor, just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!"

- Monty Python, Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Screenplay

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#869

Post by JCharante »

ceres wrote: post #819
credit_guy wrote: post #799

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Given that Gates is busy donating most of his cash to charity, there are counterexamples. A charity of your choice vs being taxed more. If you had a few billion dollars to spare, which option would you choose?

Why should so few individuals have outsized social, political and economic power over the whole country? Why not tax them more and let elected officials representatives decide how best to spend the money?

The power and budget of the government makes billionaires look poor.

Blaming billionaires is failure to see that the money is already available, it's just that the voters refuse to stand up. Why would more money in the government's hands change anything?

Re: Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees

#870

Post by yardstick »

Johnny555 wrote: post #572
emptysongglass wrote: post #553

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't even need to discuss billionaires though to get some very bad effects. Take Denmark for example that taxes software engineers 50 percent of their salary (it's not unique to SWEs it's just because nearly all SWEs will make enough to fall into this bracket). I'm thoroughly examining other lower tax bracket countries to move to because why do I want to pay half of my salary until I am enfeebled and the state l…

Take Denmark for example that taxes software engineers 50 percent of their salary (it's not unique to SWEs it's just because nearly all SWEs will make enough to fall into this bracket). I'm thoroughly examining other lower tax bracket countries to move to because why do I want to pay half of my salary until I am enfeebled and the state lets me enjoy my enfeeblement? Denmark consistently ranks in the top 5 of countrie…

> Are you really suggesting you want to leave Denmark to go somewhere with lower tax rates, then when you need social healthcare, you'll move back to Denmark and take advantage of the healthcare system that you didn't pay for?

Isn’t that the point of their healthcare/retirement system? It’s socialist, not user pays. That it covers everyone irrespective of their tax contributions. Otherwise it would exclude the unemployed, students, disabled, low income (untaxed) people (esp housewife/househusbands) etc.

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