Live data from Hacker News

You can now perform all basic actions in Bitcoin through SMS

blog.coinbase.com

11–20 of 28 posts

Re: You can now perform all basic actions in Bitcoin through SMS

#12

Serious question: How many of you actually use SMS applications, besides texting people? For example, Wells Fargo keeps telling me I can bank over SMS. But why would I do that versus using their mobile site? Or is this just for "downmarket" folks?

I use SMS apps all the time- probably 2 or 3 times a day.

Oh wait, this isn't 2008? hmm, I must have punched in the date wrong on my time machine.

Re: You can now perform all basic actions in Bitcoin through SMS

#13
post #8
post #2

Holy shit. This just changed the game. Venmo best be scared bc bitcoin is perfect for early p2p adoption. Much lower barrier than between consumers and businesses.

Yeah. Bitcoin's a great way to bump cash between people. That said, there's so much $ being poured into different mobile payment methods that I'd be hesitant to call it the clear front runner. Also, you still haven't called me about the hackathon, David.

Nobody wants to hack with you, Jordan :P

Also, thread-bottom party at HN. Whoop.

Re: You can now perform all basic actions in Bitcoin through SMS

#14
post #9
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've tried to make it as secure as possible. The idea is that the pin is only sent over the call. So the hacker would need to listen in to your call in order to steal your pin. So they basically need to hack your SMS and your voice calls. How else can we make this more secure? As for publishing your phone number so that you can receive bitcoins, you can publish your secondary phone numbers. We only allow you to use…

Yeah, it is probably about as secure as is reasonably needed. You should also have daily and maybe total limits, do statistical anti fraud (useful in general, but more so on low trust channels) You might be more willing to allow large repeat transactions vs large transactions to a new payee. I haven't tried it yet, but you definitely want the voice call to include both as much transaction info as possible and a "pres…

Brilliant advice, but I would (optimistically) assume that Coinbase is doing some or most of these things? Fraud is a pretty well-solved problem for most payment processors.

It's a "user-friendly" feature that sacrifices some of Coinbase's own bottom line (and security) for the sake of those that want convenience over security. I wouldn't be scared unless this is enabled on your account. (In fact, from the usability end, it should require some serious hurdles to be enabled in the first place for that reason, to protect against unauthorized enabling.)

The sacrifice for Coinbase seems to be that the people that would enable this feature are accustomed to calling up Visa/MC, reporting a fraudulent transaction, and getting their money back + an affidavit in the mail, so Coinbase will have to be able to cover a fraudulent bottom line either out of their own finances or a good insurance policy.

Re: You can now perform all basic actions in Bitcoin through SMS

#16
post #13
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. Bitcoin's a great way to bump cash between people. That said, there's so much $ being poured into different mobile payment methods that I'd be hesitant to call it the clear front runner. Also, you still haven't called me about the hackathon, David.

Nobody wants to hack with you, Jordan :P Also, thread-bottom party at HN. Whoop.

This is very silly. I'm serious about pitching in on MHacks though. I have entirely too much time on my hands post BitBox.

Re: You can now perform all basic actions in Bitcoin through SMS

#19
post #9
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've tried to make it as secure as possible. The idea is that the pin is only sent over the call. So the hacker would need to listen in to your call in order to steal your pin. So they basically need to hack your SMS and your voice calls. How else can we make this more secure? As for publishing your phone number so that you can receive bitcoins, you can publish your secondary phone numbers. We only allow you to use…

Yeah, it is probably about as secure as is reasonably needed. You should also have daily and maybe total limits, do statistical anti fraud (useful in general, but more so on low trust channels) You might be more willing to allow large repeat transactions vs large transactions to a new payee. I haven't tried it yet, but you definitely want the voice call to include both as much transaction info as possible and a "pres…

> I'd personally be willing to risk 10-20 BTC to this level of security, but not 500. Of course, my Bitcoin holdings are 2-3 BTC right now.

Two grand for the inconvenience of SMS-based currency?

Re: You can now perform all basic actions in Bitcoin through SMS

#20
post #19
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it is probably about as secure as is reasonably needed. You should also have daily and maybe total limits, do statistical anti fraud (useful in general, but more so on low trust channels) You might be more willing to allow large repeat transactions vs large transactions to a new payee. I haven't tried it yet, but you definitely want the voice call to include both as much transaction info as possible and a "pres…

> I'd personally be willing to risk 10-20 BTC to this level of security, but not 500. Of course, my Bitcoin holdings are 2-3 BTC right now. Two grand for the inconvenience of SMS-based currency?

$2k times the odds of actually being exploited (and not compensated by Coinbase) is somewhere between $0 and $50.
Post reply on HN