Coinbase S-1 • Hacker News Board

Re: Coinbase S-1

#571

Post by xur17 » Thu, Feb 25, 2021, 9:20 PM UTC

Zetaphor wrote: post #415

electriclove wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the main fiat to crypto onramp in the US. The success of CoinBase will increase crypto adoption. I don't see this as preventing DEX growth but actually increasing it by growing the pond.

I had to scroll past far too many hot takes about how centralized exchanges signal the end of decentralization before finally finding someone saying this. There is a decentralized version of every service that Coinbase currently provides and many more they don't, with the exception of fiat on/off-ramps. Until regulations change that's going to mean centralized entities that cooperate with the existing financial insti…

To me Coinbase has basically become a USD -> USDC onramp - everything else they provide can be done on decentralized exchanges in a way that is both cheaper, and (at least once you get used to the system) easier.

Re: Coinbase S-1

#572

Post by phreack » Thu, Feb 25, 2021, 9:23 PM UTC

dmlittle wrote: post #439

phreack wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a bit more nuance to it, in that you're not even allowed to buy at the official rate, and buying something in USD with a credit card gets you slapped with a 65% tax, so it's more like the 140-160 rate actually reflects the current real value of the currency. Having an 'official' rate nowadays is more of a performance to pretend that the already high inflation rate is actually a lot higher, and incredibly it w…

I believe the USD transaction tax is 35% not 65% (not that I think it makes sense in any way).

Yeah there's a 30% 'solidarity' tax and then another 35% tax once we're at it, but the second one you can discount from income tax or get a rebate if you go through some bureaucratic processes.

Re: Coinbase S-1

#573

Post by charcircuit » Thu, Feb 25, 2021, 9:24 PM UTC

ketamine__ wrote: post #533

charcircuit wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fiat on ramps are already decentralized. Anyone can sell cryptocurrency for fiat. There is no centralized list of people who are allowed to sell cryptocurrency for fiat.

That's clearly not true. People have been arrested for acting as money transmitters.

Just because something is illegal in certain jurisdictions it doesn't make whatever no longer decentralized. If running tor nodes was illegal, it wouldn't mean the tor is centralized.

Re: Coinbase S-1

#574

Post by Grustaf » Thu, Feb 25, 2021, 9:28 PM UTC

krb686 wrote: post #497

WD-42 wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you use a local wallet to store your BTC, let’s say on a HDD, the the magnetic pattern on the disk that makes up the bits that represent your coins would be physically owning then. They can’t be retrieved any other way.

As codehalo pointed out, there's no magnetic pattern that represents coins on your hard drive. There is a magnetic pattern that represents your private key for your wallet (if you store it there), which possession of you might equate to possession of the coins to since without it they can't be used. Still, access isn't really possession is it. I can lend my house key to a friend but they don't possess my house. The d…

Bitcoins are like bearer bonds. Unlike houses.

Re: Coinbase S-1

#575

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Feb 25, 2021, 9:29 PM UTC

Robotbeat wrote: post #526

rglullis wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trust and "Independence" are not binary qualities when we are talking about these systems. It's a matter of risk exposure, a sliding scale that you can control. With crypto I can choose how much of my assets are going to be in crypto that I control (long-term savings, DeFi investments), how much is going to be in a custodial wallet (could be for my scheduled on-ramp DCA buys, could be to keep more liquid trading) and…

Edited: I decided to delete my comment. I do think the hype deserves a dunk, but dunking doesn’t advance the conversation and is lazy.

[deleted]

Re: Coinbase S-1

#576

Post by uncletammy » Thu, Feb 25, 2021, 9:30 PM UTC

dennis_jeeves wrote: post #528

cactus2093 wrote: post #522

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you so set on digital cash? I completely agree, Bitcoin is a bad replacement for cash, just like gold bullion is. 10 dollars is a steep confirmation price but if you have a life savings of, say, the equivalent of a few hundred or thousand USD that you hold in cash and your local currency is rapidly inflating making it worthless, btc is an amazing life raft that you could put your money into. If you are able t…

Can someone explain to me the technical reason as to why it costs $10, when it used to cost pennies (I think)? Has the proportion of transactions gone up compared to the miners?

cactu2093 is exactly right. It's basic supply and demand. What their explanation doesn't touch on are the things that have affected supply and demand. Here are a few of them:

1. Massive media hype surrounding the price in 2014 caused everyone and their mom to try and buy bitcoin. The original developer (Satoshi) had added short term limit on the number of transactions that could be processed in a given time (transactions per block) as a short term fix for a few bad actors spamming the network. So the network was left unable to process the massive increase in demand caused by the price hype. This "fix" was stated to be temporary but was left in for the reason below.

2. A handful of new BTC devs ran off the old guard who believed the network should scale up with demand. This resulted in them intentionally refusing to change the software to accommodate yet another round of increased demand due to media attention (2016).

3. Increased regulatory scrutiny made it difficult to buy/sell crypto outside of large, regulated exchanges, effectively reducing liquidity for those that aren't institutional traders and those unwilling to give Coinbase a DNA sample just so they can buy crypto. The new regulatory and institutional friction killed many of the original use cases for bitcoin leaving mostly institutional traders left. These traders are unphased by high transaction fees, especially since most of their trading takes place off-chain on an exchange website.

Re: Coinbase S-1

#577

Post by kleer001 » Thu, Feb 25, 2021, 9:34 PM UTC

goat_whisperer wrote: post #338

Bitcoin made a lot of sense when I first read about it in 2011. Back then I feel like it was primarily used as an anonymous payment method. Think dark web/silk road type stuff. I certainly don't endorse that behavior, but bitcoin as a payment method made a lot of sense. Bitcoin makes 0 sense to me as an investment. It's pure speculation with no underlying intrinsic value. It's the Dutch Tulips 10.0 basically. And now…

@Travis_Kling: "Bitcoin is a non-sovereign, hard-capped supply, global, immutable, decentralized digital store of value. It's an insurance policy against monetary and fiscal policy irresponsibility from central banks and governments globally."

Re: Coinbase S-1

#578

Post by thundergolfer » Thu, Feb 25, 2021, 9:37 PM UTC

tfang17 wrote: post #520

Biggest surprise on the S1: CPO who joined exactly 1 year ago was given 2M shares, currently valued at $750M.

Snowflake’s CEO, Frank Slootman, made a similarly insane amount of money on IPO after being at the company for 18 months. I think he got given what became over $1 billion worth.

Re: Coinbase S-1

#579

Post by uncletammy » Thu, Feb 25, 2021, 9:37 PM UTC

xorcist wrote: post #563

uncletammy wrote: post #538

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I completely agree, Bitcoin is a bad replacement for cash, just like gold bullion is. It doesn't have to be a bad replacement for cash. It can actually be a fantastic replacement for cash if we continue building it as one. The fact is, the current BTC devs decided bitcoin can't scale before ever even trying. They were short-sighted, took VC money to pivot to "digital gold", and started spreading the false narrative…

> the current BTC devs decided bitcoin can't scale before ever even trying Please keep the Bitcoin-the-protocol and Bitcoin-the-currency separate. The protocol obviously can't "scale" to even remotely close to everyday payment systems such as Visa or Mastercard. That much should be evident, and was the subject of pretty much every discussion around the protocol about ten years ago or so. The basic idea has limits. 10…

> The protocol obviously can't "scale" to even remotely close to everyday payment systems such as Visa or Mastercard.

Citation desperately needed

> No system where every actor needs to keep a permanent record of every transaction of every other actor forever can scale to the entire planet

If the costs associated with keeping these records are negligible and all the work is done for you electronically by an app on your phone, then yes. It absolutely can scale.

> Please keep the Bitcoin-the-protocol and Bitcoin-the-currency separate.

I am. Bitcoin is the protocol. BTC is the currency.

Re: Coinbase S-1

#580

Post by philosopher1234 » Thu, Feb 25, 2021, 9:38 PM UTC

vmception wrote: post #455

graeme wrote: post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> equities markets cant be compared to a commodity. But BTC advocates do so all the time by using an equity markets term, market cap. As far as I know that isn’t a term applied to commodities. Also commodities have a use value. In what way is bitcoin a commodity?

they shouldn’t either. and I address that. bitcoin’s use value is what it brings to the market that people like and dont have elsewhere. transparent supply and emission schedule, 24/7 trading, faster settlement times, borderless self-custody in unlimited amounts, upgradable asset class with some attributes of multiple asset classes (commodities, currencies). let me guess, you were looking for industrial applications…

What is the use value of speculation? It doesn’t seem useful to me. The problem I have with Bitcoin is I have no confidence in its demand. For all I can tell, tomorrow people could get bored of Bitcoin and it would plummet. There doesn’t seem to be a good reason, beyond hype, to want to own Bitcoin.