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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

#231

Post by jhabdas »

VMG wrote: post #47
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…

The tokens only have value as long as your tokens are redeemable. Multiple things can make them non-redeemable: * Your tokens can be tainted, for instance because they were once owned by a blacklisted address. The value of your tokens will be effectively 0. * The issuer might run a fractional reserve (this is the accusation against Tether, the most popular stablecoin at the moment) * The asset backing the stablecoin…

Don't let the name fool you. Stable coins only appear stable in the short term because the way it works now is taxes and inflation erode your assets slowly enough you don't notice. With Bitcoin and its hard forks that is not so. You got a 21M limit and Austrian Economics in place on the way to the goal line. Rather than someone else printing money you have the right to print your own until the limit is reached. And when people lose access you actually increase the value of your holdings given a supply shortage.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#232

Post by atomical »

jatsign wrote: post #99
jf- wrote: post #96

I have to wonder what these coins actually offer the consumer. If they’re to be used as a real world currency for transactions, they would need to have some utility over credit/debit cards. I don’t see what that utility is. I can already make instantaneous purchases via contactless, and while there is a fee for international purchases, it’s not large enough, nor do I encounter it frequently enough, for me to look for…

An ordinary consumer wouldn't. For me, likely use cases are: - Transmitting money overseas. This should be way cheaper. - Vendors who are tired of paying 2.5% to credit card companies giving a discount to using crypto.

> Transmitting money overseas

Curious to know if this will follow AML laws. Imagine you send a USDC coin to a person overseas. It then is sent to a few other people and then someone tries to cash it out in the US again.

Couldn't Coinbase decide that the chain of send/receives is illegal with chain analysis?

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#233

Post by lallysingh »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #226
lallysingh wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't the auction of stablecoins basically have to be at face value? Just by market forces: You don't auction dollars. Then they'd just cash then in at coinbase, right?

> Wouldn't the auction of stablecoins basically have to be at face value? Almost certainly not. They would trade at a premium or discount, depending on a number of factors.

Which factors? Who'd buy them at a premium? Wouldn't any auction of >1 bidders stabilize at face value?

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#234

Post by a_t48 »

hudon wrote: post #215
plankers wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your original point was that _Coinbase and Gemeni_ had prevented you from exchanging your BTC for fiat currency. There's nothing preventing you from taking your BTC to some other exchange, or just some guy that accepts BTC for goods or services. That's the beauty of this whole decentralized thing.

No, you misread. "et cetera" is latin for "and the rest"... I put that there because exchanges are all tied. A ban on one leads to a ban on another, depending on the severity of your crime. > There's nothing preventing you from taking your BTC to some other exchange I've already showed you that exchanges can freeze your assets, so yes they can prevent you from sending to other exchanges. > some guy that accepts BTC f…

Can’t you just do a private transfer to a fresh wallet?

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#235

Post by oropolo »

"Digital dollars?" We already have that -- it's called the US Dollar. Only 10% of the USD money supply is in physical paper or coin form. I receive my wages electronically and pay my mortgage, car payment, insurance, student loan, and buy groceries and entertainment without ever touching printed/minted money. And I suspect I'm in the majority on this point.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#236

Post by leppr »

simias wrote: post #28
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…

>I suppose the only drawback here is that they're issued from a centralized authority. Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of cryptocurrencies though? After all this authority could selectively blacklist some coins from ever being converted back to their peg currency, effectively rendering them worthless, couldn't they? You couldn't easily launder it away because this authority could decide that if these coins are…

It does, but "centralized cryptocurrencies" are still useful in that their similar technology makes interoperability with "proper" cryptocurrencies easier.

It's money with a standard API. Whether the actual "value" part of it is centrally controlled or not, many tools made for one will work with the other.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#237

Post by velosol »

beaner wrote: post #102
arcticbull wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if both wallets implement it, isn’t it silly not all wallets support all stable coins? Nope, it isn’t. Moreover there seems to be a misunderstanding, square cash allows you to instantly move money between bank accounts, via your bank, have at it, totally interoperable because dollars.

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…

Zelle works quite nicely between (bank) apps and has been as fast as Venmo etc in my experience (in the US). https://www.zellepay.com/

I think the interoperability is nearly solved for the quick transfer world as well. Cross-border is solved through remittance schemes as mentioned up/down thread.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#238

Post by leppr »

will_brown wrote: post #90
Karrot_Kream wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USDC is an ERC20 token, so the vast majority of wallets support it out of the box.

Isn’t it funny CoinBase wallets don’t support ERC20 out of the box . They pick and choose what ERC20 tokens the support. Hey wouldn’t you know it they support their own stablecoin, but not others...pretty sure that’s the type of centralization cryptocurrency/Blockchain was trying to avoid.

Coinbase is trying to be the interface between the government-regulated world, and the code-regulated world.

Of course they have to make more compromises to accommodate the side with the guns, than the immaterial one.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#239

Post by VMG »

hudon wrote: post #145
lacker wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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.

Coinbase is not a wallet.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#240

Post by tlrobinson »

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…

> I suppose the only drawback here is that they're issued from a centralized authority.

The lack of a central authority was the entire reason Bitcoin was successful where previous cryptocurrencies were not.

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