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"Please invest responsibly" - coming from the company that lets people buy cryptocurrency with credit cards. This blog post reads like an attempt to preempt a

by dpiers 9y ago

"Please invest responsibly" - coming from the company that lets people buy cryptocurrency with credit cards. This blog post reads like an attempt to preempt a lawsuit after the price of BTC crashes and people are stuck with rapidly depreciating coins because Coinbase's servers were too overloaded to process a sell order.

ISL 9y ago
That is exactly what it is. It is informing Coinbase's customers that their resources are finite and that they cannot be relied upon to execute trades nor provide support in a heartbeat. It is important that they say this, as it appears to be true. PSA: If you're a Coinbase customer, and you have never made a withdrawal, are you aware that there are weekly sell limits, priced in USD, not BTC? It was a surprise to me. If you're sitting on a little BTC kitty at Coinbase that has grown large, do know that you may not be able to convert it all to USD on a single trade even if Coinbase has liquidity and buyers.
- maxerickson 9y ago
  Do they not lay out those limits in a clear way somewhere or had you not looked for the info?
  - hobofan 9y ago
    I transferred my BTC to Coinbase a few years ago (because I didn't trust myself to keep my wallet safe), and this is the first time I have heard of this. To be fair my account isn't set up for withdrawal (no bank account connected), so you might be notified about this there.
    - g09980 9y ago
      Deposit/withdrawal limits can be increased if you ask them (if you are a high net worth individual.)
    - maxerickson 9y ago
      I meant something like https://support.coinbase.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2108820-coinbase-account-limits https://support.coinbase.com/customer/en/portal/articles/210... Which is a top result searching Google for "coinbase transaction limits".
  - ISL 9y ago
    It is a surprise if you expect Coinbase to operate like traditional trading platforms/banks. Those tend to have lots of KYC friction to make deposits, little friction to make withdrawals. I continue to be surprised that Coinbase doesn't allow instantaneous execution, if they really do have buyers/liquidity, and then allow the USD to sit in a cash account and trickle out slowly if necessary. I was similarly surprised that I'd have to set up a GDAX account just to place a limit order. Making what is essentially a forex exchange with market orders alone is fraught with uncertainty.
- ryanmerket 9y ago
  My weekly withdraw limit is $50k... I have zero problems with that.
mmsmatt 9y ago
Counterparty risk is through the roof. I tried moving some prediction market contracts on US Election Day, couldn’t trade anything due to traffic volume. This feels familiar. Decades of technical and legal work went into our stock exchanges, the bitcoin bucket shops are a few generations behind. It doesn’t matter until suddenly it does.
- brianwawok 9y ago
  This will help when CME and CBOE get their contracts launched, right? They can handle the real life traffic for such thing as crude oil. I do not think the bitcoin volume would phase them very much...
  - readhn 9y ago
    Bit coin is a tiny market compared to real markets.
    - brianwawok 9y ago
      Exactly why it will work much better when the real boys come in to town :)
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
deleted 9y ago
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by dpiers 9y ago

ISL 9y ago

That is exactly what it is. It is informing Coinbase's customers that their resources are finite and that they cannot be relied upon to execute trades nor provide support in a heartbeat. It is important that they say this, as it appears to be true. PSA: If you're a Coinbase customer, and you have never made a withdrawal, are you aware that there are weekly sell limits, priced in USD, not BTC? It was a surprise to me. If you're sitting on a little BTC kitty at Coinbase that has grown large, do know that you may not be able to convert it all to USD on a single trade even if Coinbase has liquidity and buyers.

maxerickson 9y ago
Do they not lay out those limits in a clear way somewhere or had you not looked for the info?
- hobofan 9y ago
  I transferred my BTC to Coinbase a few years ago (because I didn't trust myself to keep my wallet safe), and this is the first time I have heard of this. To be fair my account isn't set up for withdrawal (no bank account connected), so you might be notified about this there.
  - g09980 9y ago
    Deposit/withdrawal limits can be increased if you ask them (if you are a high net worth individual.)
  - maxerickson 9y ago
    I meant something like https://support.coinbase.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2108820-coinbase-account-limits https://support.coinbase.com/customer/en/portal/articles/210... Which is a top result searching Google for "coinbase transaction limits".
- ISL 9y ago
  It is a surprise if you expect Coinbase to operate like traditional trading platforms/banks. Those tend to have lots of KYC friction to make deposits, little friction to make withdrawals. I continue to be surprised that Coinbase doesn't allow instantaneous execution, if they really do have buyers/liquidity, and then allow the USD to sit in a cash account and trickle out slowly if necessary. I was similarly surprised that I'd have to set up a GDAX account just to place a limit order. Making what is essentially a forex exchange with market orders alone is fraught with uncertainty.
ryanmerket 9y ago
My weekly withdraw limit is $50k... I have zero problems with that.

mmsmatt 9y ago

Counterparty risk is through the roof. I tried moving some prediction market contracts on US Election Day, couldn’t trade anything due to traffic volume. This feels familiar. Decades of technical and legal work went into our stock exchanges, the bitcoin bucket shops are a few generations behind. It doesn’t matter until suddenly it does.

brianwawok 9y ago
This will help when CME and CBOE get their contracts launched, right? They can handle the real life traffic for such thing as crude oil. I do not think the bitcoin volume would phase them very much...
- readhn 9y ago
  Bit coin is a tiny market compared to real markets.
  - brianwawok 9y ago
    Exactly why it will work much better when the real boys come in to town :)
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]

deleted 9y ago

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