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Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

blog.coinbase.com

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Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#181

Post by dlubarov »

arcticbull wrote: post #50
askafriend wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not save shares of the S&P 500 index? You just sell some when you want to buy something like a car.

This right here, literally how it’s supposed to work. “Money becomes worth less over time, what should I do?” “Invest in productive assets” “OHHHHHHHHH” There, we just saved you from having to go to an Econ class :P

The thing is, this assumes a shortage of capital for productive enterprises. Historically, that's been normal, but not so much since 2008. Banks have been hoarding cash well in excess of reserve requirements [1], despite ~zero interest for most of that time [2].

[1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WRESBAL

[2] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FEDFUNDS

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#182

Post by hudon »

lacker wrote: post #148
hudon wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same drawback applies to Bitcoin. Send BTC from Coinbase to a blacklisted entity and see how quickly CB, Gemini, etc. shut down your accounts. Then you’re left with your local client but you can’t trade anywhere... and speculation is crypto’s only use case today.

At least according to this document, when your USDC account is blacklisted you may no longer send or receive tokens from it. With Bitcoin, even if Coinbase blacklists you, you can still send your Bitcoin to other accounts and exchange it for things. I'm sure it's a huge pain but your Bitcoin will not just be lost forever.

> With Bitcoin, even if Coinbase blacklists you, you can still send your Bitcoin to other accounts and exchange it for things

This is not so. Coinbase and Gemini (I haven't checked others but I'm sure they're the same) will freeze your assets entirely if required by law or if you violate the user agreements in some flagrant way [0] [1].

[0] https://support.coinbase.com/customer/en/portal/articles/190...

[1] https://gemini.com/user-agreement/#account-closure

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#183

Post by beaner »

arcticbull wrote: post #139
beaner wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I want to send money to someone via square cash, they have to have the square cash app. Same with Venmo, and PayPal, and everything else... Venmo and PayPal are even owned by the same company. Have you ever asked why they're not interoperable? The ACH system underneath links all US bank accounts, but it's so slow and burdensome that private companies need to build apps on top of it that abstract away all of its pr…

Venmo and Cash use push-to-debit, which is instant, and fall back on ACH only if the bank you use doesn’t support it. There’s your common unified protocol.

How is that a common unified protocol? I can't send between the apps.

Additionally, I need a debit card or bank account to use them at all. With crypto, you don't.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#184

Post by beaner »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #130
beaner wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I want to send money to someone via square cash, they have to have the square cash app. Same with Venmo, and PayPal, and everything else... Venmo and PayPal are even owned by the same company. Have you ever asked why they're not interoperable? The ACH system underneath links all US bank accounts, but it's so slow and burdensome that private companies need to build apps on top of it that abstract away all of its pr…

> ACH system underneath links all US bank accounts, but it's so slow and burdensome that private companies need to build apps on top of it that abstract away all of its problems ACH is for cheap, remote batch transfers. Fedwire is for real-time, remote transfers. Cash is for cheap, real-time, in-person transfers. (FX exchanges, as centralized databases, are faster and safer than stablecoins.)

A system which makes no distinction between any of these use cases and treats them all the same sounds very appealing to me.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#185

Post by arcticbull »

stickfigure wrote: post #172
arcticbull wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you sending US Dollars between yourselves as Canadians? You can’t spend them in Canada, why not use a free and instant Interac e-Transfer? If you want to hold USD (as a hedge against CAD) open a US Dollar denominated account at any major Canadian bank but that’s an investment not a store of value. Or open an interactive brokers account if you want to trade currencies. And if you want to move money to another…

I don't have an informed opinion on this whole stablecoin thing, but... There isn't a single country in the world today where you can't spend a US dollar. Canadians will happily take them, especially at a 1:1 exchange rate.

At a discount maybe, and only along the border, try showing up in the north and waving around some USD. That’s a pretty naïve attitude, to think you can show up anywhere and demand they accept your USD at face value. I think this all further proves my point.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#186

Post by Yizahi »

lacker wrote: post #105
Permit wrote: post #11

Stablecoins seem like they would achieve most of the goals of the original cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin: - Decentralized transactions - 24/7 access - Low fees - Store of value I suppose the only drawback here is that they're issued from a centralized authority. That said, for practical purposes the vast majority of Bitcoin holders didn't mine their own coins either. Despite this, no one on Twitter[1] seemed excit…

Another key drawback of USDC is that your account can be frozen by the centralized authority: USDC tokens are ERC-20 compatible and can be used with any ERC-20 compatible digital wallet. However, a global blacklist is maintained by CENTRE for USDC, which prevents tokens from being sent into or from blacklisted addresses. Reasons for blacklisting could include known fraudulent or illegal activity, or a legal order or…

But guys who will own this "stablecoin" somewhere in Cook island offshore would surely provide support in a timely and legal manner.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#187

Post by arcticbull »

0x8BADF00D wrote: post #171
arcticbull wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you sending US Dollars between yourselves as Canadians? You can’t spend them in Canada, why not use a free and instant Interac e-Transfer? If you want to hold USD (as a hedge against CAD) open a US Dollar denominated account at any major Canadian bank but that’s an investment not a store of value. Or open an interactive brokers account if you want to trade currencies. And if you want to move money to another…

> This is not solving a problem that isn’t otherwise solved except money laundering and skirting AML/KYC rules. Look I may well be wrong, but can you suggest a use case I haven’t considered? I could see a decent amount of usage for dApp developers or anyone who wants micro transactions on their platform. That being said, “stablecoin” is probably quite useless outside of that very narrow use case.

People don’t really want micropayments as it turns out because people get decision fatigue. It’s why Netflix feels good and the iTunes Store video rentals don’t. The latter may have saved you money but you don’t want to keep deciding on whether something’s worth it.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#188

Post by hudon »

lawn wrote: post #146
hudon wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same drawback applies to Bitcoin. Send BTC from Coinbase to a blacklisted entity and see how quickly CB, Gemini, etc. shut down your accounts. Then you’re left with your local client but you can’t trade anywhere... and speculation is crypto’s only use case today.

> but you can’t trade anywhere Just trade on all the other less regulated exchanges. Or localbitcoin. Or, you know, buy stuff. > and speculation is crypto’s only use case today. Or you buy stuff... For example: * Webhallen (huge Swedish online shop) * scan.co.uk (uk based computer online shop) * purse.io (buy stuff from amazon) * fastmail (emails) * VPN/VPS/domains from various providers * darknetmarkets

Why the hell would I buy Bitcoin to buy stuff on Amazon through a proxy site that sells my BTC for me instead of just... buying on Amazon like a normal person? BTC will be way slower and more expensive than just using my credit card... Plus Visa will refund me in the case of fraud.

Like I side, speculation is the only thing you buy BTC for (moon!!!111), and the exchanges will prevent you from doing this if you are related to blacklisted accounts.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#189

Post by arcticbull »

arcticbull wrote: post #139
beaner wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I want to send money to someone via square cash, they have to have the square cash app. Same with Venmo, and PayPal, and everything else... Venmo and PayPal are even owned by the same company. Have you ever asked why they're not interoperable? The ACH system underneath links all US bank accounts, but it's so slow and burdensome that private companies need to build apps on top of it that abstract away all of its pr…

Venmo and Cash use push-to-debit, which is instant, and fall back on ACH only if the bank you use doesn’t support it. There’s your common unified protocol.

@beaner. Come on. Where will you get your Crypto from if you don’t have a bank account and debit card?

The common protocol is that they both link to your bank account (“wallet”).

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#190

Post by JumpCrisscross »

beaner wrote: post #184
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ACH system underneath links all US bank accounts, but it's so slow and burdensome that private companies need to build apps on top of it that abstract away all of its problems ACH is for cheap, remote batch transfers. Fedwire is for real-time, remote transfers. Cash is for cheap, real-time, in-person transfers. (FX exchanges, as centralized databases, are faster and safer than stablecoins.)

A system which makes no distinction between any of these use cases and treats them all the same sounds very appealing to me.

> A system which makes no distinction between any of these use cases and treats them all the same sounds very appealing to me

It's a bad compromise. If you want the cheapest transfers, you batch them. (This is the logic of Lightning.) If you want the most reliable transfer, you wire it. If you want to be sneaky, you use cash. (There are other reasons to use these modes.)

Batching being cheaper and slower than RTGS is fundamental to payment economics, irrespective of whether in an electronic database, armored car or blockchain. I go into this in a comment from about a year ago [1].

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16154956#16155708

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