Could Coinbase have done an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) to raise money for their investors and employees instead, where the coin tracks revenue or something?
Binance did something like this with BNB.
Coinbase S-1
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Re: Coinbase S-1
#542Argentina is a great example. I am an American and have been there many times. They have extreme inflation and regressive policies against USD or foreign currency. Take a look at https://bluedollar.net . Official rates are buy at 89.98 and sell at 94.98 (ARS). Unofficial rates are buy at 138 and sell at 143. That's a massive spread saying that the people on the street are willing to spend 35% more because they know t…
I’m always surprised when my tiny (in population) and insignificant country shows up in HN. I’m now in the US and the power of going there with dollars in your pocket is incredible. I’m not an economist or even a very well versed person in the matter, but it is my understanding that Argentina is always almost out of dollars in its reserves and the local currency has been devaluated steadily since 2001. People figured…
#31 by population is not “tiny”. It has more population than California.
Re: Coinbase S-1
#543Trading volume of "Other Crypto Assets" (non-BTC/ETH/LTC) made up 44% of revenue in 2020, which they attribute to DeFi crypto assets. I wonder how 13% of their assets drives 44% of their revenue? The section on Applications talks about DeFi as peer-to-peer financial agreements, which implies there's some underlying economic activity going on, as opposed to just speculation, but I haven't been able to find anything el…
People gamble more on shit coins but hold on to BTC and ETH
Re: Coinbase S-1
#544Earlier quoted context omitted.
I use the lightning network almost daily and I’ve never done that. I just use a wallet that is lightning capable and that’s it.
How exactly are you using the lightning network without an initial transaction to charge up your metaphorical gift card?
You could use a custodial solution untill you stack enough to get a channel of your own.
Re: Coinbase S-1
#545Coinbase is critical to the widespread adoption of crypto because it acts as a bridge between everything-is-regulated and anything-goes. Cryptocurrencies are only bound by the rules of the programs that run them, but they exist in the "real world" where powerful states have guns and nukes and can pass laws that would make using cryptocurrencies too risky for the general public, even if it would still be technically feasible. Coinbase is clearly the leader in this bridge-space and I suspect this IPO will go nicely.
Re: Coinbase S-1
#546Many 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.
Weird take. Exchanges are more like a shop. Ideally you don’t keep the coins on the exchange but in your own wallet after purchase
Re: Coinbase S-1
#547Earlier quoted context omitted.
What users of the Bitcoin network own are private keys. These allow you to control corresponding entries on the Bitcoin ledger by signing transactions and broadcasting them to the Bitcoin network. Signed transactions can even be shared through other channels, to be broadcast at a later time for settlement, like a check. This is how the Lightning Network functions. Keys can be held in many forms, including purely in s…
Also almost all governments have KYC/AML/CFT regulations that apply to crypto exchanges as well. And governments can monitor, control, sanction your bitcoin transactions by controlling these exchanges through regulations. When the local currency becomes unstable and the local government becomes unstable, one should assume access to crypto exchanges like coinbase will be very very hard.
You’re right, “not your keys, not your coins”
Re: Coinbase S-1
#548Earlier quoted context omitted.
> These properties also mean that in a pinch, if you live in an unstable society or one facing high inflation it can work as an alternative financial system. At the time of writing this comment, if you want your BTC transaction confirmed in the next hour it would cost you ~ 10USD ( https://bitcoiner.live/ ) . What planet do you live on where you think a non-negligible percentage of people in ANY country, let alone a…
The whole point of his comment is that BTC is better viewed as store of value rather than a medium of exchange
Except that BTC is a terrible store of value, possibly the last option in a long line of better classical options such as real estate (or related funds), stocks, bonds, basket of currencies, commodities.
We already have tons of options for 'store of value' why on earth would we invent another, worse one?
BTC is not a store of value or a currency - it's a weird social movement.
Re: Coinbase S-1
#549Earlier quoted context omitted.
The whole point of his comment is that BTC is better viewed as store of value rather than a medium of exchange
Except that BTC is a terrible store of value, possibly the last option in a long line of better classical options such as real estate (or related funds), stocks, bonds, basket of currencies, commodities. We already have tons of options for 'store of value' why on earth would we invent another, worse one? BTC is not a store of value or a currency - it's a weird social movement.
...how embarrassed would you be for being like a decade late to such a massive "social movement" that went from like $1 to more than $ trillion dollars...? Yeah. sorry about your ignorance.
Re: Coinbase S-1
#550Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don’t speak for everyone there, “we” don’t all have the same reason. I like Bitcoin as a diversification for being a “better version of gold” - it has the scarcity and you can physically own it but it is much easier to store and send anywhere in the world if needed. These properties also mean that in a pinch, if you live in an unstable society or one facing high inflation it can work as an alternative financial syste…
An "unstable society" and "high inflation" or two very different things. Bitcoin could easily help (and does in some parts of the world) in the latter case. In an unstable or even collapsed society things are different. While true that historically gold could be used to buy things it might be at a very depressed buying power or it can be used when dealing with a stable outside society. A hedge for a unstable society…
BTC would be a bad choice in any unstable economy or high inflation. A much better choice in the case of high inflation, would be the currency of the nearest large country i.e. USD, Euros, Pound. Possibly RMB.
You get a free financial system, just without the monetary policy until the country can get moving again.
BTC doesn't provide any value whatsoever as it's by design a terrible medium for exchange, and not a very good store of value.
There is no situation where BTC is useful whereupon there are not already many better solutions.