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For some negative context on Coinbase, take a look at http://reddit.com/r/coinbase http://reddit.com/r/coinbase. It looks like, despite the shiny front and cla

by tga 10y ago

For some negative context on Coinbase, take a look at http://reddit.com/r/coinbase http://reddit.com/r/coinbase. It looks like, despite the shiny front and claims, they are still not a solid, trustworthy company, even though they play with a lot of others' money. In particular, the mechanics of their transactions are not obvious (e.g. long wait times), and their customer service is subpar, making some customers feel scammed, with no recourse.

pmorici 10y ago
People like to hate on Coinbase because they took a stance on the block size debate in the past that was at odds with powerful people in the Bitcoin world who also happened to control the main forums for discussing Bitcoin. I think most of the "problems" people have are just a thinly veiled attempt at a smear campaign. At this point they are the the standard in Bitcoin for what a trustworthy and ethical company should be. They have got to hold the record for longest period in Business w/o losing massive amounts of customer funds to fraud or theft.
- NelsonMinar 10y ago
  Reddit is not a reliable place to discuss Bitcoin.
  - sayurichick 10y ago
    https://coin.dance https://coin.dance is a good site for data. There is a pro-blockstream agenda on reddit, and bitcointalk (theymos owns both). coin dance shows what % of users are running whatever fork, shows volume , transactions, node counts, etc. etc. Why does that matter? You can see the truth (data) for yourself rather than what people are saying/censoring.
- chx 10y ago
  Given that Bitcoin isn’t the future of money — it’s either a Ponzi scheme or a pyramid scheme https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/08/bitcoin-isnt-the-future-of-money-its-either-a-ponzi-scheme-or-a-pyramid-scheme/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/08/bitco... it's somewhat hard to be "trustworthy" and "ethical". Are you rating the competing mob families on the trustworthy and ethical scale too?
  - cloakandswagger 10y ago
    I'll never understand the people who are rabidly anti-Bitcoin. Can anyone enlighten me? Are they threatened by an alternative to traditional fiat currency, or have they just read so much propaganda (like that WaPo article) that they're completely committed to it now?
    - comboy 10y ago
      My theory: many of those people have heard about Bitcoin early enough that they would've made some money on it by now. Psychological self defense finds a rationalization not to feel guilty about it. Of course there's completely no reason to feel bad, it's a risky bet and one could just as well think about what fantastic sports bets he could have done in the past years. Plus, without thorough technical understanding, quite a lot of trust is involved in believing that it can actually work.
    - meanduck 10y ago
      Its their desire to impede the eventual massive reduction in tax revenue due to "evasion". Without enough tax revenue, they wont have free money anymore. Harsh yes but sometime you just have to call it the way you see it.
    - chx 10y ago
      I am mad at the hype leveled at Bitcoin because ordinary people lose so much money with it. Not just because of the inherently fraudulent nature of Bitcoin but because you put something that can be very easily exchanged into money on insecure computers. Every computer is insecure, mind you but people don't really know (or care!) what they are in for until they are hit.
      - pmorici 10y ago
        No offense but you seem to only have a surface understanding of Bitcoin. I'm not sure what you mean by ordinary people lose a lot of money with it but ordinary people have surly lost more money in the stock market than they have in Bitcoin. Saying Bitcoin is inherently fraudulent is simply false. On the topic of computer security. If you are serious about your Bitcoin's security there have been secure hardware wallets available for several years now that are easy to use and eliminate the chance of theft from hacking. They have come down in price to the point where they are very affordable. The Ledger Nano S for example is $50. It's also super easy to use and never exposes your private key to your computer so it can't be stolen even if your computer is infested with Bitcoin stealing malware. Trezor and Keepkey are similar devices.

by tga 10y ago

pmorici 10y ago

People like to hate on Coinbase because they took a stance on the block size debate in the past that was at odds with powerful people in the Bitcoin world who also happened to control the main forums for discussing Bitcoin. I think most of the "problems" people have are just a thinly veiled attempt at a smear campaign. At this point they are the the standard in Bitcoin for what a trustworthy and ethical company should be. They have got to hold the record for longest period in Business w/o losing massive amounts of customer funds to fraud or theft.

NelsonMinar 10y ago
Reddit is not a reliable place to discuss Bitcoin.
- sayurichick 10y ago
  https://coin.dance https://coin.dance is a good site for data. There is a pro-blockstream agenda on reddit, and bitcointalk (theymos owns both). coin dance shows what % of users are running whatever fork, shows volume , transactions, node counts, etc. etc. Why does that matter? You can see the truth (data) for yourself rather than what people are saying/censoring.
chx 10y ago
Given that Bitcoin isn’t the future of money — it’s either a Ponzi scheme or a pyramid scheme https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/08/bitcoin-isnt-the-future-of-money-its-either-a-ponzi-scheme-or-a-pyramid-scheme/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/08/bitco... it's somewhat hard to be "trustworthy" and "ethical". Are you rating the competing mob families on the trustworthy and ethical scale too?
- cloakandswagger 10y ago
  I'll never understand the people who are rabidly anti-Bitcoin. Can anyone enlighten me? Are they threatened by an alternative to traditional fiat currency, or have they just read so much propaganda (like that WaPo article) that they're completely committed to it now?
  - comboy 10y ago
    My theory: many of those people have heard about Bitcoin early enough that they would've made some money on it by now. Psychological self defense finds a rationalization not to feel guilty about it. Of course there's completely no reason to feel bad, it's a risky bet and one could just as well think about what fantastic sports bets he could have done in the past years. Plus, without thorough technical understanding, quite a lot of trust is involved in believing that it can actually work.
  - meanduck 10y ago
    Its their desire to impede the eventual massive reduction in tax revenue due to "evasion". Without enough tax revenue, they wont have free money anymore. Harsh yes but sometime you just have to call it the way you see it.
  - chx 10y ago
    I am mad at the hype leveled at Bitcoin because ordinary people lose so much money with it. Not just because of the inherently fraudulent nature of Bitcoin but because you put something that can be very easily exchanged into money on insecure computers. Every computer is insecure, mind you but people don't really know (or care!) what they are in for until they are hit.
    - pmorici 10y ago
      No offense but you seem to only have a surface understanding of Bitcoin. I'm not sure what you mean by ordinary people lose a lot of money with it but ordinary people have surly lost more money in the stock market than they have in Bitcoin. Saying Bitcoin is inherently fraudulent is simply false. On the topic of computer security. If you are serious about your Bitcoin's security there have been secure hardware wallets available for several years now that are easy to use and eliminate the chance of theft from hacking. They have come down in price to the point where they are very affordable. The Ledger Nano S for example is $50. It's also super easy to use and never exposes your private key to your computer so it can't be stolen even if your computer is infested with Bitcoin stealing malware. Trezor and Keepkey are similar devices.