3 ms·
Coinbase centralizes bitcoin by removing it's intended purpose, peer-to-peer cash, altogether. Naive people who do not understand bitcoin, use services that ta
by kang 11y ago
Coinbase centralizes bitcoin by removing it's intended purpose, peer-to-peer cash, altogether.
Naive people who do not understand bitcoin, use services that take away ownership of coins, like coinbase, circle, etc. because they achieve a few advantages over traditional bank accounts - its fast, no downtime & without limits. Banks are moving towards digitalization all over the world and these advantages will no longer remain so in future if banks decide on getting their game sorted. Then people who see value in using services like coinbase will go away because banks can provide all advantages of coinbase even today if they decide to, but much better.
However, what they can't provide is decentralization & privacy. But people who use coinbase, by virtue of them using it, do not desire decentralization & privacy. Thus, the bitcoin community should not pay attention to these companies or their users (though they might be large in numbers & even be current majority of users) unless decentralization & privacy is no longer desirable in bitcoin.
- guelo 11y agoBefore Coinbase I remember spending days navigating dodgy sites trying to exchange dollars for bitcoin and failing.
- kang 11y agoCoinbase still doesn't solve that without compromising decentralization & privacy, no one does. The premise of centralization is achieving security by compromising liberty. When buying bitcoin you are achieving liberty but compromising on peace of mind by being responsible for your own security.
- bcook 11y agoLocalbitcoins has been around for years. Even in the early days, when I used the less reputable sites, I always got the bitcoins I paid for.
- NelsonMinar 11y agoI still have some of the MtG cards I got for Bitcoin, before the $450M fraud unwound the largest Bitcoin exchange operating at the time.
- natrius 11y agoIgnoring the companies that onboard almost all new users and process transactions for most merchants sounds like a bad idea. But whatever, it's clear at this point that Ethereum will be how most people interact with blockchains for the first time. Anyone who wants to ignore the drama should pick up the docs and start building cool stuff with us.
- kang 11y agoYes majority is not always right. Ethereum has no solutions for this 'drama' of decentralization & governance either.
- natrius 11y agoI think it has pretty good solutions for those, but that's not the point. Blockchains are viewed as a way to make money from speculation, which is why the Bitcoin community is freaking out. Blockchains are actually a revolutionary technology for empowering users with applications they control. If Ethereum had the same sort of governance issue, it wouldn't matter. All of us developers would move our apps to whichever chain ends up being stable, because they'll all support the EVM our apps run on. Ignore the speculation and build cool stuff.
- kang 11y agoYes, but since no chain is 'stable' or has solutions for these issues, a developer should spend time building apps on their own blockchains which takes just minutes to make.
- natrius 11y agoThat's exactly what I do, and that's what I'm suggesting. Developers should read the docs, spin up a chain on their laptops, and build cool stuff.
- maaku 11y agoThe goal is not mass adoption. The goal is nonpolitical money.