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Facebook Security Director Joins Bitcoin Startup Coinbase

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Re: Facebook Security Director Joins Bitcoin Startup Coinbase

#11

Post by jdangu »

huangc10 wrote: post #5
gnaritas wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people aren't going to want to hold their own keys as most people can't stop their computers from being constantly infected by malware. Just as people don't want to keep large amounts of cash in their safe, they will want someone else to take the responsibility of securing their coin. Pretty much only the tech savvy will care to even understand what a key is or care to hold their own. Bitcoin isn't a political m…

agreed. but coinbase isn't a bank/authority. it's like letting some random company holding your money. meh.

Less random than paypal when it originally started. States had to come up with laws designed just for paypal, because an e-wallet was something completely new.

“We’re in uncharted territory, so hard to say if this stuff falls under a particular state’s MTL [money transmitting license] statutes,” says co-founder Fred Ehrsam. “We’re still talking to states to figure out how each responds, but Coinbase is prepared to get licensed where a regulator deems it’s necessary.”

In the meantime, he is continuing to do business, relying on the fact that Coinbase has its AML and KYC processes established.

[1] http://www.coindesk.com/coinbase-gmail-bitcoin/ (Oct 28 2013)

Re: Facebook Security Director Joins Bitcoin Startup Coinbase

#12

Post by hendzen »

I'll be honest, I am a Bitcoin fan. But I realize there is a relatively large chance that it might just fail entirely (or only be used by criminals and just be regulated to death).

Venture Capital investment in Bitcoin has been fairly massive - and from many top tier VCs e.g. a16z, USV & Accel (but notably not Sequoia nor Greylock). Some key investments: 75m for Coinbase, 20m for Xapo, 9m for Circle (still haven't launched) and many smaller investments.

VCs have also been putting massive amounts of money in to BTC itself.

If Bitcoin fails, SV will collectively look pretty silly. Its going to be interesting to see what happens when either the US economy takes a dump, or interest rates rise and VC funding dries up...

Re: Facebook Security Director Joins Bitcoin Startup Coinbase

#13

Post by BrokenPipe »

trendspotter wrote: post #2

I recommend to use Blockchain.info or BitGo or GreenAddress over Coinbase if you already have Bitcoin. With those services you hold the keys to your Bitcoin, not Coinbase. With Coinbase they are in control over your Bitcoin, not you. GreenAddress is the only wallet for Bitcoin with a 2-2 model Multisig offering a Bip0032 wallet with nLocktime on the Bitcoin blockchain. * https://greenaddress.it/en/

Hi, GreenAddress founder here ;)

If you are interested we have an open source unminified client with independent blockchain data verification via the electrum network as well as a a quick video infographics.

The client can also verify that the P2SH belong to your HD seed and GreenAddress' all while not being identifiable as from GreenAddress externally unless explicitly requested in a coming feature within the payment protocol.

Lots of questions and links here: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/20puhg/while_blockc...

Please feel free to ask any question or to suggest any feature.

Source code https://github.com/greenaddress/

Cheers!

Re: Facebook Security Director Joins Bitcoin Startup Coinbase

#14

Post by ivanca »

huangc10 wrote: post #5
gnaritas wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people aren't going to want to hold their own keys as most people can't stop their computers from being constantly infected by malware. Just as people don't want to keep large amounts of cash in their safe, they will want someone else to take the responsibility of securing their coin. Pretty much only the tech savvy will care to even understand what a key is or care to hold their own. Bitcoin isn't a political m…

agreed. but coinbase isn't a bank/authority. it's like letting some random company holding your money. meh.

Google is a "random" company holding all your emails, Facebook is another one holding all the photos -and many interactions- of your lifetime (maybe not yet, but very soon), Apple is one holding all your music; etc etc.

Re: Facebook Security Director Joins Bitcoin Startup Coinbase

#15

Post by teacup50 »

gnaritas wrote: post #4
trendspotter wrote: post #2

I recommend to use Blockchain.info or BitGo or GreenAddress over Coinbase if you already have Bitcoin. With those services you hold the keys to your Bitcoin, not Coinbase. With Coinbase they are in control over your Bitcoin, not you. GreenAddress is the only wallet for Bitcoin with a 2-2 model Multisig offering a Bip0032 wallet with nLocktime on the Bitcoin blockchain. * https://greenaddress.it/en/

Most people aren't going to want to hold their own keys as most people can't stop their computers from being constantly infected by malware. Just as people don't want to keep large amounts of cash in their safe, they will want someone else to take the responsibility of securing their coin. Pretty much only the tech savvy will care to even understand what a key is or care to hold their own. Bitcoin isn't a political m…

Bitcoin with central key escrow is completely and utterly pointless, unless the goal is to generate a lot of waste heat from servers.

> Most people aren't going to want to hold their own keys as most people can't stop their computers from being constantly infected by malware.

We have cheap, secure hardware crypto tokens that rely on two-factor auth. You don't need to keep millions of dollars on a Windows PC.

> Just as people don't want to keep large amounts of cash in their safe, they will want someone else to take the responsibility of securing their coin.

"Someone else" is called a bank. The bank is FDIC insured, and they and the federal government guarantee that your money will be there. They use a huge number of human, automated, and physical processes to keep money secure, and they don't just keep their entire holdings lying around in digital gold bars.

Unless Coinbase et al are going to become (heavily regulated) banks, then they're just another Paypal, and the crypto doesn't even matter.

Re: Facebook Security Director Joins Bitcoin Startup Coinbase

#16

Post by teacup50 »

ivanca wrote: post #14
huangc10 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

agreed. but coinbase isn't a bank/authority. it's like letting some random company holding your money. meh.

Google is a "random" company holding all your emails, Facebook is another one holding all the photos -and many interactions- of your lifetime (maybe not yet, but very soon), Apple is one holding all your music; etc etc.

> Google is a "random" company holding all your emails

Yes, that's a problem, and it's not even money. I don't use GMail, and it irks me that so many people willingly share our mutual correspondence with Google on my behalf.

Now, what if Google was holding my savings account and the only thing protecting me was ... what? A digital key, which they hold in escrow?

Re: Facebook Security Director Joins Bitcoin Startup Coinbase

#17

Post by teacup50 »

jdangu wrote: post #11
huangc10 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

agreed. but coinbase isn't a bank/authority. it's like letting some random company holding your money. meh.

Less random than paypal when it originally started. States had to come up with laws designed just for paypal, because an e-wallet was something completely new. “We’re in uncharted territory, so hard to say if this stuff falls under a particular state’s MTL [money transmitting license] statutes,” says co-founder Fred Ehrsam. “We’re still talking to states to figure out how each responds, but Coinbase is prepared to ge…

Paypal isn't pretending to be a cryptocurrency.

It's not much of a cryptocurrency if you hand the plaintext keys over.

Re: Facebook Security Director Joins Bitcoin Startup Coinbase

#18

Post by Curmudgel »

hendzen wrote: post #12

I'll be honest, I am a Bitcoin fan. But I realize there is a relatively large chance that it might just fail entirely (or only be used by criminals and just be regulated to death). Venture Capital investment in Bitcoin has been fairly massive - and from many top tier VCs e.g. a16z, USV & Accel (but notably not Sequoia nor Greylock). Some key investments: 75m for Coinbase, 20m for Xapo, 9m for Circle (still haven't la…

> Its going to be interesting to see what happens when either the US economy takes a dump, or interest rates rise and VC funding dries up...

We just had a financial crisis 6 years ago in which the U.S economy "took a dump" and caused a global panic/recession/depression (pick your favorite euphemism). Investors poured their money into Treasury bills, and in such numbers that in 2008, monthly T-bill rates were actually negative. Don't count on people rushing to Bitcoin during the next financial crisis.

Re: Facebook Security Director Joins Bitcoin Startup Coinbase

#19

Post by teacup50 »

trendspotter wrote: post #2

I recommend to use Blockchain.info or BitGo or GreenAddress over Coinbase if you already have Bitcoin. With those services you hold the keys to your Bitcoin, not Coinbase. With Coinbase they are in control over your Bitcoin, not you. GreenAddress is the only wallet for Bitcoin with a 2-2 model Multisig offering a Bip0032 wallet with nLocktime on the Bitcoin blockchain. * https://greenaddress.it/en/

Most of these services fail to clarify whether they are web-based and rely on so-called "secure" javascript crypto: eg, where their servers are sending the ephemeral JavaScript code that they claim -- but can not under any circumstances guarantee should they be compromised -- will not send your private keys to the server.

Compare this to signed, native applications produced by third-parties who do not run the service in question, where code signing guarantees that the code distributed to you was validated by a responsible building party, and the signing key is not accessible from compromised front-end web servers.

Re: Facebook Security Director Joins Bitcoin Startup Coinbase

#20

Post by BrokenPipe »

teacup50 wrote: post #19
trendspotter wrote: post #2

I recommend to use Blockchain.info or BitGo or GreenAddress over Coinbase if you already have Bitcoin. With those services you hold the keys to your Bitcoin, not Coinbase. With Coinbase they are in control over your Bitcoin, not you. GreenAddress is the only wallet for Bitcoin with a 2-2 model Multisig offering a Bip0032 wallet with nLocktime on the Bitcoin blockchain. * https://greenaddress.it/en/

Most of these services fail to clarify whether they are web-based and rely on so-called "secure" javascript crypto: eg, where their servers are sending the ephemeral JavaScript code that they claim -- but can not under any circumstances guarantee should they be compromised -- will not send your private keys to the server. Compare this to signed, native applications produced by third-parties who do not run the service…

Our FAQ https://greenaddress.it/faq

we have a chrome app non minified and open source on github. That client is local and no JS can be injected as it connects via ws.

Furthermore it verifies data against the electrum network and provides nLocktime transaction unlocking your funds.

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