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I have a ton of respect for Coinbase. It seems like their implied priorities are: 1) Security 1a) Compliance ... 57) Customer Service Wh
by hectorr1 9y ago
I have a ton of respect for Coinbase. It seems like their implied priorities are:
1) Security
1a) Compliance
...
57) Customer Service
While annoying, this was both sufficient and necessary for the business to date. Security is necessary for obvious reasons. Compliance is necessary because to be able to do business with US banks (card processing, ACH, wires...) they had to be aggressive about complying with US regulation. Which ultimately gives them an advantage on the customer service front relative to their competition for retail investors. And frankly, they aren't much worse than most online brokers.
These priorities were also sufficient. Amazon was competing against major incumbents and had to win on cost and service. By outcompeting an empty field on compliance, Coinbase has built a significant moat around US retail. They have relationships with Fidelity and USAA that signal legitimacy. They had cold storage while incumbents were/are still saying 'blockchain not Bitcoin'.
The critical question is how they manage customer service and communications going forward. Amazon, Facebook, and Google created monopolies based on a great user experience. Uber destroyed a thousand monopolies for the same reason. Coinbase is riding the coattails of Bitcoin's awesome UX, the warm fuzzies people get from making 10x on an investment. If and when there is a correction, their core business will hinge on how well they handle a large sell-off.
- vocatus_gate 9y agoAgree with almost everything you've said, and unfortunately if past experience is anything to go by, they'll crash/go down during the next big price dip.
- ukoki 9y agoYep! I contacted customer support over a month ago as I am unable to make withdrawals. Still haven't heard a thing from them.
- daxorid 9y agoSame. I'm a little surprised that their focus on "compliance" doesn't cover things like de facto theft of your customer's money. Are there no financial regulations requiring the honoring of withdrawals within a certain period of time? Either way, we still have the option of buying BTC and transferring it to a company that doesn't defraud its customers, then withdrawing from there.
- Rmilb 9y agoThey have done a lot. However they were pushing too hard for the NY Segwit 2X agreement and complaining loudly of high fees. They still have not upgraded their software to support segwit addresses but still had the time to support the 2X fork. It seems very disingenuous and I wish I had a company that supported what I believe in to recommend for new users. It is ridiculous to complain about fees and continue to drag your feet to implement tech that is lowering fees in production right now that other companies already have activated.