Update on Bitcoin Cash • Hacker News Board

Re: Update on Bitcoin Cash

#161

Post by elnygren » Fri, Aug 04, 2017, 10:16 AM UTC

gragas wrote: post #84

Honestly, I don't understand why everyone trashes Coinbase. I work very closely with numerous crypto exchanges for a living (I write code which interfaces with them). Outside of work, I've personally chosen to open a Coinbase account and trade on GDAX. Coinbase is, in my opinion, the most reputable exchange out there by far.

Well, at least they have the best appearance.

As in, UX, UI, Docs, APIs, service design etc. are all top notch. Which would make it probable (but not certain) that the more technical parts are well engineered too.

Coinbase is doing perhaps something similar to what Stripe did for its field of business.

Re: Update on Bitcoin Cash

#162

Post by koolba » Fri, Aug 04, 2017, 10:18 AM UTC

sowbug wrote: post #74

koolba wrote: post #39

So does this mean the cost of a lawsuit was deemed greater than the cost of adding support for BCC?

That's awfully cynical. They took a wait and see approach. Would you run your engineering team any differently? How do you tell a viable fork from the (many) others that have failed? If BCH falls to $10 in two weeks, would you still direct your engineers to support it?

> That's awfully cynical.

If you knew me in person you'd know the cynicism was intentional. I've got quite a bit to start with and double so when it comes to anything involving digital currencies.

> They took a wait and see approach. Would you run your engineering team any differently?

On the contrary, I agreed with it. I said as much the day before: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14915884

> How do you tell a viable fork from the (many) others that have failed? If BCH falls to $10 in two weeks, would you still direct your engineers to support it?

I don't think it's possible to tell after less than a day if it's a viable fork. It's way too early. That's why I'm thinking this is driven more from the perceived cost of lawsuits vs. the development cost of supporting the feature.

Re: Update on Bitcoin Cash

#163

Post by elnygren » Fri, Aug 04, 2017, 10:18 AM UTC

paulddraper wrote: post #72

differentView wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if you believe BTC would've been at that same value without the fork.

Right. It's like a stock split, except the company actually splits into two essentially identical competitors. No matter which competitor "wins", your assets should keep the same total value they had before.

Not quite like a stock split. In stock splits its almost guaranteed that the total valuation is similar.

This is wild, wild cryptoland. At the moment both Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash are rising - so a lot of "free" money (at least in the short term.).

For now, two coins is better than one :p

EDIT: allright, Bitcoin Cash has been declining for a few days now. However, it still has quite a bit of value that has not disappeared from Bitcoin's value.

Re: Update on Bitcoin Cash

#164

Post by joering2 » Fri, Aug 04, 2017, 10:23 AM UTC

phodo wrote: post #131

I have been a long time coinbase user. I have been very unhappy with their support. I have been unable to add additional funds to buy both additional ethereum and btc from their site, even after contacting them repeatedly about this ... but never getting a reply. I did multiple identity verifications and connected bank and credit cards. No luck in being able to transact properly. Bitcoin Cash was a forcing function a…

The only weapon you have (that they care about) is a chargeback dispute.

I know a story when someone bought some coins with Visa credit card and they had some issues with Conibase service. Same story with tickets - open only to have it closed down next day with suggestion to look into knowledge base.

Then they proceed to the bank and opened a chargeback dispute based on false advertising (legitimate reason) that Coinbase promised to help and are not.

You see - since crypto-currency is not tangible item (you can call it service, if you will), neither Visa, nor Amex or Mastercard will have issues with your dispute, because there is even no tracking to proof you received your "product". Of course once the funds are returned to your credit card and bank notifies Coinbase about the dispute, Coinbase will take your coins away from you, but that's not the point. You see -- it doesnt matter to Visa if you process $1 billion in monthly transactions - if you have too many chargebacks, they will shut you down. End of the story. You open another account - you go on the MATCH list and owner(s) SSN/IDs are on it for 5 years so bye bye processing credit card transactions.

Coinbase might not care about you (I am sure they do per se, they just cheap and won't hire enough eyeballs to answer customer support), but surely they care about their chargebacks dispute level.

Re: Update on Bitcoin Cash

#165

Post by finnjohnsen2 » Fri, Aug 04, 2017, 10:25 AM UTC

phodo wrote: post #131

I have been a long time coinbase user. I have been very unhappy with their support. I have been unable to add additional funds to buy both additional ethereum and btc from their site, even after contacting them repeatedly about this ... but never getting a reply. I did multiple identity verifications and connected bank and credit cards. No luck in being able to transact properly. Bitcoin Cash was a forcing function a…

Also during this spring when BTC was up and down on a day to day basis, their services/app was down a few times. Just when you need the app the most, it fails you.

So I don't trust them and as soon as a viable alternative comes along I'm off Coinbase.

Re: Update on Bitcoin Cash

#166

Post by qhwudbebd » Fri, Aug 04, 2017, 10:31 AM UTC

Coinbase is a horrific company: they give the superficial impression of being a reputable place to hold money, but one can go months at a time without a human response to support queries despite holding a substantial balance with them.

I cannot warn other potential victims of Coinbase strongly enough; hopefully the chaos and incompetence around BCC will alert people more publicly about the dangers of getting entangled with them. Hold your cryptocurrency in your own wallet that you control yourself.

Re: Update on Bitcoin Cash

#167

Post by finnjohnsen2 » Fri, Aug 04, 2017, 10:31 AM UTC

quantdev wrote: post #159

phodo wrote: post #131

I have been a long time coinbase user. I have been very unhappy with their support. I have been unable to add additional funds to buy both additional ethereum and btc from their site, even after contacting them repeatedly about this ... but never getting a reply. I did multiple identity verifications and connected bank and credit cards. No luck in being able to transact properly. Bitcoin Cash was a forcing function a…

I, too, have had terrible past experiences with Coinbase and I no longer use them. I now buy on Gemini for fiat -> BTC and use other exchanges for altcoins. That said, I no longer keep any crypto on any exchange, including Gemini. The whole point of Bitcoin is that you are your own bank via ownership of your private keys. By giving them to Coinbase, you centralize the system, concentrate the risk, and create honeypot…

They are so convenient though :)

Re: Update on Bitcoin Cash

#168

Post by tehwebguy » Fri, Aug 04, 2017, 10:33 AM UTC

wastedbrains wrote: post #115

blazamos wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

VP Ops at Coinbase We are trying to scale our support team as quickly as possible. Wish I had a better answer for you. https://blog.coinbase.com/improving-customer-support-139d99e... If you still need help with your issue, send me an email (in my profile).

biggest thing you need to do to improve support is stop sending mailings from a no-reply email address. Replying should create a support ticket automatically if the email it came from is associated with an account. Further verification could be required depending on the request.

> stop sending mailings from a no-reply email address

This should be a general rule for the whole internet.

Re: Update on Bitcoin Cash

#169

Post by zeratax » Fri, Aug 04, 2017, 10:37 AM UTC

phodo wrote: post #131

I have been a long time coinbase user. I have been very unhappy with their support. I have been unable to add additional funds to buy both additional ethereum and btc from their site, even after contacting them repeatedly about this ... but never getting a reply. I did multiple identity verifications and connected bank and credit cards. No luck in being able to transact properly. Bitcoin Cash was a forcing function a…

I've had a problem where 2FA would always default to the authy app I once used, but I just wanted the raw QR code to use a simple OTP app.

One week after contacting their support and not getting any response, I got an automated response asking if I am still interested in a follow up and if so, I should reply to this mail.

This continued for 2 months every week. I then decided to start complaining on their subreddit and twitter and coincidentally immediately got a mail helping me with my original problem and finally fixing it.

Now with the hardfork I withdrew all my funds as well and will never go back.

Re: Update on Bitcoin Cash

#170

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Aug 04, 2017, 10:43 AM UTC

elnygren wrote: post #160

aedron wrote: post #156

Coinbase could easily avoid, or be unable to, provide BCH balances to their bitcoin holding customers. There's no telling how Coinbase operates internally. You can't just assume that 1 customer == 1 permanent bitcoin address in Coinbase's backend. Perhaps they shift funds around all the time into new addresses, without keeping references/keys to the old ones. In that case, BCH balances would be lost, with no way to r…

> without keeping references/keys to the old ones You are correct, but this would be a new level of stupid for a leading cyrptocurrency exchange that actually tries to build a reputation and appearance of quality, safety, compliance and being a "legit" service for financial institutions etc.

[deleted]