Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

blog.coinbase.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 388 posts

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#251

Post by aeternus »

rayvy wrote: post #59
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…

> Stablecoins seem like they would achieve most of the goals of the original cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin Correct me if I'm wrong but Stablecoins sound like the opposite type of thing that Crypto-anarchist(s) behind Bitcoin tried to achieve. > I suppose the only drawback here is that they're issued from a centralized authority This reads in a hilarious way. Kind've like saying "I've found a perfect way to buy a c…

You're exactly right, and I'd encourage anyone who disagrees to read the headline encoded in Bitcoin's genesis block.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#252

Post by nostrademons »

asynchrony wrote: post #214
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…

I don't see how this won't result in rebuilding the current regulated banking system on top of an inefficient system bottlenecked by proof-of-work.

"Rebuilding the current regulated banking system" just with different people in charge can be quite lucrative if you are one of the new builders who is now in charge.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#253

Post by valarauca1 »

asynchrony wrote: post #214
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…

I don't see how this won't result in rebuilding the current regulated banking system on top of an inefficient system bottlenecked by proof-of-work.

this challenge cannot be circumvented.

Division of tasks, and specialization naturally trend to hierarchical organization for the same reason divide and conquer algorithms are so efficient. Separation of concerns is powerful.

There is much different of 5-6 shoemakers picking the same person to handle their finances so they can focus on making shoes. But, how many shoe makers can offload their finances until you have a bank?

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#254

Post by asynchrony »

nostrademons wrote: post #252
asynchrony wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see how this won't result in rebuilding the current regulated banking system on top of an inefficient system bottlenecked by proof-of-work.

"Rebuilding the current regulated banking system" just with different people in charge can be quite lucrative if you are one of the new builders who is now in charge.

I can definitely see the attraction for entrepreneurs, just not the value for anyone else.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#255

Post by Animats »

OK. So how does the backing of this "stablecoin" work?

Here's the website: https://www.centre.io/usdc

Here's the whitepaper: https://www.centre.io/pdfs/centre-whitepaper.pdf

There's very little about who actually has custody of the paid-in money and what guarantees it gets paid out if "stablecoin" outflow exceeds inflow. The "smart contract" machinery doesn't really do much about that part.

Tether has been vague about that, too. Tether has been trading at a discount to the dollar, lately about 3-5%.[1]

The usual failure mode is that whoever has custody of the money starts investing it. They don't have to pay the profits to the coin holders. Then they start making risky investments. Then they lose money. Then they start faking it. In the real brokerage world, they go to jail for speculating with customer funds.

[1] https://cryptocoincharts.info/pair/usdt/usd/kraken/1-month

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#256

Post by asynchrony »

valarauca1 wrote: post #253
asynchrony wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see how this won't result in rebuilding the current regulated banking system on top of an inefficient system bottlenecked by proof-of-work.

this challenge cannot be circumvented. Division of tasks, and specialization naturally trend to hierarchical organization for the same reason divide and conquer algorithms are so efficient. Separation of concerns is powerful. There is much different of 5-6 shoemakers picking the same person to handle their finances so they can focus on making shoes. But, how many shoe makers can offload their finances until you have…

Could you try saying this some other way? I don't grasp your meaning at all.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#257

Post by JumpCrisscross »

lallysingh wrote: post #233
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

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

Think of the stablecoin as an ETF. If people need to launder money or take advantage of a programmatic bug, that would raise the stablecoin price over $1.

By default, I'd imagine the reduced liquidity and counterparty risk (relative to dollars) would cause the stablecoin to trade at a discount to cash, particularly when auctioned by the government. (You have to spend resources monitoring the auction, closing the transaction, and cashing out to complete the arbitrage.)

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#258

Post by JumpCrisscross »

beaner wrote: post #242
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

That modern economics has programmed in accountability for slow, large payments doesn't mean the system wouldn't be better off if it changed.

> That modern economics has programmed in accountability for slow, large payments doesn't mean the system wouldn't be better off if it changed

It's more fundamental than accounting. If a transaction costs X, aggregating N transactions into a single transaction reduces the per-transaction cost to X/N. The latter, batched process will always be slower and cheaper than the former.

(If a transaction costs Y%, aggregating bilateral transactions allows for "netting out," thereby reducing costs while increasing latency. For example, suppose Bank A sends Bank B $10, Bank B sends Bank A $5 and the Bank B sends Bank A $2. Real-time systems would see 3 transactions of $17. Net-settlement systems would see as few as 1 transaction for $3.)

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#260

Post by hk__2 »

a_t48 wrote: post #234
hudon wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

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

Isn’t the point of Bitcoin not to have private transfers?

Post reply on HN