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Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

blog.coinbase.com

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Re: Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

#51

Post by toomim »

cookiecaper wrote: post #36
Grovara123 wrote: post #6

I think Bit Coin is a fad... it will be replaced. Canada's 'Mint Chip' is catching up quickly and it is a superior product/currency.

fwiw I agree that Bitcoin is a useful prototype but I seriously question its long-term viability outside of a niche. That niche, however, may be sufficient to continue to sustain high values for a while to come. Bitcoin shows us some cool stuff, but it's not sufficient for real-world everyday use. It will be an ancestor to a truly disruptive online currency imo. The network has too many fundamental inaccessibilities…

It sounds like you have a feeling that bitcoin isn't good enough, but don't have any actual reasons for it.

Re: Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

#52

Post by toomim »

omh wrote: post #42
nbashaw wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They buy your bitcoins immediately with their own funds, then when your money clears 5 days later they get reimbursed by you.

That means they have a net exposure to the bitcoin price (possibly quite a large one). From their point of view that's not all that desirable.

Except that, with the price rising, they're making money from that "exposure" on average.

And they obviously believe the price will keep going up, because they're a bitcoin business, and believe in bitcoin. If the price stops going up, their company will fail anyway.

And finally, perhaps you noticed that coinbase is processing thousands of bitcoin purchases now. So I'd say, with all that data, it's not actually that risky for them. If the price starts going down, they'll know it first, because they'll be the ones making the purchases. :P

Re: Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

#53

Post by toomim »

cointrust wrote: post #24

Be careful with coinbase When they were trying to raise money as part of the founders club, they broke a few regulations: they originally were supposed to raise their set limit within 8 weeks and when they missed it they extended the time by 2 weeks and when they missed THAT they extended the timeline by 4 more weeks. At the end they only made their target by a last minute injection from may have been an insider. On…

What limit are you talking about?

Re: Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

#54

Post by thefreeman »

Jd wrote: post #22
unix-dude wrote: post #18

I think bitcoin is an extremely interesting concept, and the economics around it are equally interesting. I bought a tiny amount when the prices were around the $11 mark, and its insane to think of the price-shift. I made a couple bucks off the price shift, but now I'm honestly thinking that the price will fall back down. Despite serving the needs of many SR/SatoshiDice people, I dont think they're quite at the point…

The problem with all fiat currencies is they have no inherent value; it is all in the eye of the beholder. So what is an "appropriate" price is quite difficult to determine. Most currencies are driven by being effective monopolies wherever they are issued, so the market price remains somewhat stable. Even so, many professional economists have opined that the exchange rates even between major currencies are way too vo…

To say Bitcoin has no inherent value is not quite accurate. The inherent value of the Bitcoin comes from the electricity required to power the computational cycles to "create" it.

Re: Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

#56

Post by jerguismi »

Retric wrote: post #45
Jd wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with all fiat currencies is they have no inherent value; it is all in the eye of the beholder. So what is an "appropriate" price is quite difficult to determine. Most currencies are driven by being effective monopolies wherever they are issued, so the market price remains somewhat stable. Even so, many professional economists have opined that the exchange rates even between major currencies are way too vo…

The dollar has a huge inherent demand in that you need to pay US taxes in dollars. Bit-coins lack that demand but there total value is so tiny just about any perceived long term use creates a huge speculation opportunity. PS: For comparison WoW gold is a much larger currency.

Is it possible to calculate market cap for WoW gold? Is there way to know how much is in circulation?

Re: Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

#57

Post by Dylan16807 »

thefreeman wrote: post #54
Jd wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with all fiat currencies is they have no inherent value; it is all in the eye of the beholder. So what is an "appropriate" price is quite difficult to determine. Most currencies are driven by being effective monopolies wherever they are issued, so the market price remains somewhat stable. Even so, many professional economists have opined that the exchange rates even between major currencies are way too vo…

To say Bitcoin has no inherent value is not quite accurate. The inherent value of the Bitcoin comes from the electricity required to power the computational cycles to "create" it.

Cost does not equal value.

And it goes the other way around anyway. Higher prices lead to more people mining.

Re: Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

#58

Post by eitland »

For everyone out there who wants to pay bitcoins using PayPal I found a hack that worked (be aware: this might take sevwral hours the first time.)

Buy Linden Dollars - Take them out in bitcoins. Simple but takes hours of waiting the first time to get verified etc the first time.

Re: Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

#59

Post by yebyen »

tocomment wrote: post #43
nbashaw wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They buy your bitcoins immediately with their own funds, then when your money clears 5 days later they get reimbursed by you.

That actually sounds more risky? Isn't there a risk the money won't clear?

So then they are stuck with bitcoins and you get a chargeback fee. No big deal if the value keeps going up. They sell bitcoins anyway, at a market rate plus a percent.

There is a risk that the price goes down, but the bitcoins don't drop out of their pocket because your bank refuses to clear a transaction to your account.

To be a responsible / sane business, they need to keep a hedge of Bitcoins anyway, in case the value spikes and they can't immediately buy the bitcoins for the price that they quoted you, that you locked in when you ordered; that is another factor contributing to their risk of loss as well.

The part that makes the business stable is that 5 day lag between their purchase and sending of your bitcoins. Their losses are limited to whatever can be stolen (now mostly some other way besides bank chargebacks) and whatever swing as described randomly falls above the level of their margin.

Re: Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

#60

Post by nullc »

pixie_ wrote: post #41
jswinghammer wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well Bitcoin is not a fiat currency since it being defined as money is not dictated by fiat. It isn't attached to a physical good which is interesting. I'm guessing that its' value is being helped by the increasing amount of inflation in fiat currencies around the world and that the newly created money doesn't have a better home. Many people are scared of stocks and real estate so other assets become more attractive.…

Exactly. People take note - Bitcoin is NOT fiat currency. Fiat is latin for 'let it be done.' As in governments can create new money at will. New bitcoins can't be created on demand by anyone.

You've misunderstood that defintion.

Economically speaking fiat is a currency that exists by rulemaking instead of having an inherent value— it's constructed. The definition doesn't say who does the constructing or how.

Bitcoin is a fiat currency— the fiat is embedded in the software that runs on and is enforced by all the Bitcoin nodes, it's the rules that make the currency exist and work. It's largely immutable, participated with by consent, transparent, and cryptographically strong in the way no government fiat is— bit it is technically a fiat currency.

This is no big deal unless you make the Internet-liberitarian/goldbug mistake of thinking fiat is a dirty word.

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