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Coinbase acquires decentralized cryptocurrency trading platform Paradex

reuters.com

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Re: Coinbase acquires decentralized cryptocurrency trading platform Paradex

#3
Paradex is a decentralized exchange that's built on top of the 0x protocol.

DEXs are great because you can trade cryptocurrency pairs without trusting an intermediary (think Mt. Gox for why this is needed).

This move shows that Coinbase is serious about building a decentralized trading platform (unless this is just an acquihire which would be very disappointing).

Really exciting news!

Re: Coinbase acquires decentralized cryptocurrency trading platform Paradex

#4
Circle acquiring Poloniex changed the game. The rumored assurances from regulators that Poloniex's prior KYC/AML transgressions would be ignored as long as Circle fixed them going forward was all it really took. Now we are seeing a huge wave of M&A deals while Coinbase uses its very strong financial position to buy up the the less compliant but cashflow-rich overseas exchanges. In particular I wouldn't be surprised to see a huge deal such as Coinbase acquiring BitFinex/Tether at a greatly reduced price w/ some negotiated deal with US regulators to phase out Tether as long as holders can prove their Tether balances were acquired legitimately.

That said, if trading is the killer app for Bitcoin/Crypto [0] in general - what is the point of this whole business? For example most of the genuinely innovative things I've seen on the ETH blockchain like 0x (the backbone of Paradex), dydx (decentralized derivatives) and related technologies or higher level platforms like relayers and decentralized exchanges involve trading. Which begs the question - what tokens are actually worth trading in the first place? Is all this value really justified by CryptoKitties?

Just making HFT bots to trade around a bunch of monopoly money that is useless other than hype-driven speculation? I'm sure this could continue for way longer than I and other skeptics expect, as it already has before, but the whole cryptocurrency sector seems fairly irrational to me. And I say that as someone who was VERY interested/knowledgable about bitcoin during the 2013 bubble, to the point where I was hanging out on IRC channels like #bitcoin-wizards, discussing BIPs etc.

[0] - https://tradingplacesnewsletter.com/move-over-crypto-enthusi...

Re: Coinbase acquires decentralized cryptocurrency trading platform Paradex

#5
post #4

Circle acquiring Poloniex changed the game. The rumored assurances from regulators that Poloniex's prior KYC/AML transgressions would be ignored as long as Circle fixed them going forward was all it really took. Now we are seeing a huge wave of M&A deals while Coinbase uses its very strong financial position to buy up the the less compliant but cashflow-rich overseas exchanges. In particular I wouldn't be surprised t…

I'm hoping DAG-based cryptocurrencies will be able to provide the transaction speed necessary for consumer transactions to be practical and we'll see stores actually take cryptocurrencies directly. If so, we'd just need someone ambitious enough to make the payment terminals and hopefully stores will see tiny/zero transaction fees as enough of an incentive to switch.

To add to your list of points, I'd argue privacy is another thing crypto as a whole hasn't really taken seriously apart from a small set of cryptocurrencies. How many people want to dish out their address to stores when this implies they can see their history and with it way too much metadata like where you spend/earn, how much you spend/earn, and so forth.

Re: Coinbase acquires decentralized cryptocurrency trading platform Paradex

#6
post #4

Circle acquiring Poloniex changed the game. The rumored assurances from regulators that Poloniex's prior KYC/AML transgressions would be ignored as long as Circle fixed them going forward was all it really took. Now we are seeing a huge wave of M&A deals while Coinbase uses its very strong financial position to buy up the the less compliant but cashflow-rich overseas exchanges. In particular I wouldn't be surprised t…

> Which begs the question - what tokens are actually worth trading in the first place? Is all this value really justified by CryptoKitties?

I guess the old adage "The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent" really applies here.

Re: Coinbase acquires decentralized cryptocurrency trading platform Paradex

#7
post #4

Circle acquiring Poloniex changed the game. The rumored assurances from regulators that Poloniex's prior KYC/AML transgressions would be ignored as long as Circle fixed them going forward was all it really took. Now we are seeing a huge wave of M&A deals while Coinbase uses its very strong financial position to buy up the the less compliant but cashflow-rich overseas exchanges. In particular I wouldn't be surprised t…

> Which begs the question - what tokens are actually worth trading in the first place?

I think we're getting closer to tokenizing actual securities. Similar to how TrueUSD is tokenizing U.S. Dollars, I think we're fairly close ( 5 years out) from NASDAQ officially tokenizing their stocks ( as an erc20 on the ethereum blockchain)

Re: Coinbase acquires decentralized cryptocurrency trading platform Paradex

#8
post #7
post #4

Circle acquiring Poloniex changed the game. The rumored assurances from regulators that Poloniex's prior KYC/AML transgressions would be ignored as long as Circle fixed them going forward was all it really took. Now we are seeing a huge wave of M&A deals while Coinbase uses its very strong financial position to buy up the the less compliant but cashflow-rich overseas exchanges. In particular I wouldn't be surprised t…

> Which begs the question - what tokens are actually worth trading in the first place? I think we're getting closer to tokenizing actual securities. Similar to how TrueUSD is tokenizing U.S. Dollars, I think we're fairly close ( 5 years out) from NASDAQ officially tokenizing their stocks ( as an erc20 on the ethereum blockchain)

why would they do that?

Re: Coinbase acquires decentralized cryptocurrency trading platform Paradex

#9
post #3

Paradex is a decentralized exchange that's built on top of the 0x protocol. DEXs are great because you can trade cryptocurrency pairs without trusting an intermediary (think Mt. Gox for why this is needed). This move shows that Coinbase is serious about building a decentralized trading platform (unless this is just an acquihire which would be very disappointing). Really exciting news!

If there's no intermediary, what exactly have Coinbase bought?

Re: Coinbase acquires decentralized cryptocurrency trading platform Paradex

#10
post #9
post #3

Paradex is a decentralized exchange that's built on top of the 0x protocol. DEXs are great because you can trade cryptocurrency pairs without trusting an intermediary (think Mt. Gox for why this is needed). This move shows that Coinbase is serious about building a decentralized trading platform (unless this is just an acquihire which would be very disappointing). Really exciting news!

If there's no intermediary, what exactly have Coinbase bought?

There is an intermediary in 0x called a relayer (receiving relayer fees) that brings together both buyer and seller through e.g. an exchange UI. Just the transaction itself does not require an intermediary and is therefore not prone to counter party risk (of course if buyer and seller knew each other before they could just skip the relayer).
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