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Coinbase S-1

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Re: Coinbase S-1

#141

Post by simias »

lvs wrote: post #119
tristanj wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Satoshi's wallets have 1.1 million bitcoins, which are worth $56.4 billion at today's price. That would place Satoshi Nakamoto among the 25 wealthiest people on the planet.

The question is why that fact alone would affect the value of this company's shares. Just identifying him doesn't mean he'd liquidate.

It's still a huge known unknown for Bitcoin. What is Satoshi was linked to a shady organization, or something the general public wouldn't want to support for instance? Imagine if Satoshi turned out to be an avatar for the American, Russian or Chinese government for instance, that would both give them a huge leverage on the blockchain and mean that they'd benefit hugely from widespread adoption of the cryptocurrency.

In turn that could motivate other governments to heavily regulate bitcoin as they'd see it as a foreign-controlled currency.

That's just fiction, but that's the point, nobody knows for sure who or what Satoshi Nakamoto is, and that's a risk.

Re: Coinbase S-1

#142

Post by MadSudaca »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #65
arnaudsm wrote: post #44

Many have forgotten why we used cryptocurrencies in the first place. The original promise of cryptocurrency was to become independent from banks. In the end CoinBase (like every exchange) is a great product, but just a bank. It's centralized, hackable, has economies of scale, etc.

> We have forgotten why we used cryptocurrencies in the first place. The original promise of cryptocurrency was to become independent from banks. Lots of things evolve and change and their original intent is twisted. It’s ok. Life goes on.

Imagine your SO saying this to justify cheating.

Re: Coinbase S-1

#143

Post by swiley »

simias wrote: post #121
purple_ferret wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well Bitcoin was a huge failure in that regard. What it needed was inflation that scaled (to prevent hoarding), and ultimately, a way to obfuscate tracking. Imagine thinking knowing your dollar spend will be logged for all eternity is a more 'decentralized' alternative. But as with many idealists, Satoshi and his crypto friends probably didn't think too hard about the problems outside their expertise.

Inflation is the catch 22 though. With a limited supply it seems like bitcoin may never successfully become a currency due to deflation, but at the same time without the carrot of massive gains you probably wouldn't have had any adoption at all. Most people owning bitcoin these days do it as a speculative investment, hoping that it'll be worth (a lot) more one day. It's not for nothing that the rallying cry of crypto…

There are some services that are just easier to use crypto currency to pay for because the maintainers don't want to deal with payment providers. The paid version of cheogram is a good example. This really was the original idea behind bitcoin: dynamically selecting payment providers every ten minutes so they become a commodity.

Re: Coinbase S-1

#145

Post by capableweb »

dgellow wrote: post #64
hn8788 wrote: post #50

Created a coinbase account recently and found that there's no way to verify your identity if you have an expired ID. Because of covid, Maryland let expired drivers licenses still be valid for the forseeable future, but Coinbase automatically declines them.

Also, no way to select a country different from your nationality. Whatever country you select they always change it back to the country of the passport or ID card you provide, even if you live in a different country than your nationality...

I'm was in the same boat a couple of years ago. One email to support fixed the issue for me.

Re: Coinbase S-1

#146

Post by csunbird »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #65
arnaudsm wrote: post #44

Many have forgotten why we used cryptocurrencies in the first place. The original promise of cryptocurrency was to become independent from banks. In the end CoinBase (like every exchange) is a great product, but just a bank. It's centralized, hackable, has economies of scale, etc.

> We have forgotten why we used cryptocurrencies in the first place. The original promise of cryptocurrency was to become independent from banks. Lots of things evolve and change and their original intent is twisted. It’s ok. Life goes on.

People usually forget the fact that there was a reason why central bank or regular banks were created in the first place. It seems like the reason(s) still exist, hence Coinbase or any other crypto-exchanges are in demand.

Re: Coinbase S-1

#147

Post by xadhominemx »

bhupy wrote: post #139
xadhominemx wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most money is created by normal banks, not the central bank. If you Google “money creation” you will find this helpful link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_creation#Role_of_banks...

Yes, but that's only possible because of the underlying monetary policy, which is controlled by the Fed. In contrast, there is no way you can do this with (most) cryptocurrencies. The monetary policy of Bitcoin is dictated by the physical bounds of the proof-of-work algorithm. There is absolutely nothing that Coinbase can do to "create" more Bitcoin outside of just mining it like everyone else.

No money creation at banks is not controlled by central bank monetary policy. And it’s very easy to create new crypto assets. Bitcoin has gone from 100% to 60% of crypto market cap in the past 5 years - that’s 10% “inflation”

Re: Coinbase S-1

#148

Post by bhupy »

xadhominemx wrote: post #147
bhupy wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but that's only possible because of the underlying monetary policy, which is controlled by the Fed. In contrast, there is no way you can do this with (most) cryptocurrencies. The monetary policy of Bitcoin is dictated by the physical bounds of the proof-of-work algorithm. There is absolutely nothing that Coinbase can do to "create" more Bitcoin outside of just mining it like everyone else.

No money creation at banks is not controlled by central bank monetary policy. And it’s very easy to create new crypto assets. Bitcoin has gone from 100% to 60% of crypto market cap in the past 5 years - that’s 10% “inflation”

If it is, then that means Coinbase can create new "Bitcoin" on demand; which we both know that it cannot do.

In your own source, the banks ability to increase money supply through the multiplier effect is capped by the capital adequacy ratios, which are defined by the Fed. It is also an inevitability of any currency that isn't backed by an asset. To be clear, I don't have problems with the concept of fiat currencies, but we have to be honest about what it actually is and how it works, and how Bitcoin is different.

Re: Coinbase S-1

#149

Post by purple_ferret »

lucasverra wrote: post #22

I do ask myself if a 100B valuation on public listing is the start of mainstream crypto. Plus the direct listing is a giant middle finger to traditional banking and overall establishment, right? Like : Here are the new rules this new internet will be playing by. Direct, decentralized. Adapt or die?

crypto is already mainstream

Re: Coinbase S-1

#150

Post by mirekrusin »

fnord77 wrote: post #124
ceejayoz wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once saw crytpocurrency described as "speedrunning the evolution of the modern financial system".

in reverse. the evolution of the modern financial system is less and less friction for each transaction, lower costs. crypto: more friction, slower transactions, higher transaction costs. And wicked exchange volatility. Plus no way to expand or contract the supply to prevent economic shocks. I like my fiat and central banks, thank you very much.

Cars are not replacement for horses. You have to have factories, they break, you need to rely on fuel supply, they also pollute and go too fast - they can kill you. I like my horses, thank you very much!
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