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This happened to me as well a few weeks back. Smells a lot like a Ponzi scheme. Looking for a new exchange, but they're all having problems with staying online

by Mizza 9y ago

This happened to me as well a few weeks back. Smells a lot like a Ponzi scheme. Looking for a new exchange, but they're all having problems with staying online or verifying new accounts.

H99189 9y ago
Did you end up getting your coins from Coinbase?
- Mizza 9y ago
  In that particular case, no.
  - H99189 9y ago
    Well now I'm worried. I also bought a tiny amount of ETH and BTC which is still in my account but I'm really worried about getting the funds out, even if it's just a refund of my original USD.
    - Mizza 9y ago
      I didn't come here to spread doubt, just to +1 with my experience. I have had other transactions with them go okay, but when this one went wrong I realized how absolutely abysmal their support is. They stole my money and I'm being downvoted for it, ha!
    - j4ship 9y ago
      why did you give them so much money that you are "really worried" dont be irresponsible, its a new venture , dont put in your life savings ... just a couple of dollars , try it out if it doesnt work then at least its not something to be "really worried" about I gave them money , they gave me coin , everything worked ... maybe you made them angry and tried to do something illegal on their site so they shut your user down. I hear they prioritize "good" users in their system. There is a section where there is the type of account you add, if you add a bank account you get special treatment
      - H99189 9y ago
        I have a linked bank account. Can you elaborate please, how could I have possibly made them "angry" at me for buying Litecoins?
      - ultraluminous 9y ago
        "maybe you made them angry and tried to do something illegal on their site so they shut your user down." Ahh, crypto-punk-decentralized-liberatrians never seize to amaze with the level of double-think they can achieve. How someone can hold both "the government is evil and might take your money" and "maybe you made this website angry so they didn't give you your money" at the same time is truly impressice.
        hjjiehebebe 9y ago
        > crypto-punk-decentralized-liberatrians Woah, nice strawman
      - spookthesunset 9y ago
        > just a couple of dollars , try it out if it doesnt work then at least its not something to be "really worried" about Could you imagine living in a world where you had to start every business relationship by only making extremely small "beta test" transactions, be it a trip to Target to opening an account at your local credit union. Like, on your first trip to Costco, you only bought a box of gum because you couldn't ever be sure they wouldn't somehow completely fuck you over and if they did fuck you over the societal response would always be "LOL too bad, so sad.... shouldn't have trusted them!!!" I dunno about anybody else, but that really isn't the world I would want to live in. There is value, substantial value, to trust others and when that trust fails, having a solid legal system to back you up. If you cannot trust anybody but yourself, every transaction you make becomes significantly more expensive.
        hjjiehebebe 9y ago
        This is more like a money transmitter than a Costco. Paypal pull this shit all the time, if you want a non crypto example
sowbug 9y ago
> This happened to me as well a few weeks back. Smells a lot like a Ponzi scheme. Readers, please enshrine this comment as the canonical example of the Cryptocurrency Corollary of Godwin's Law: "As an online discussion about cryptocurrency grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Ponzi approaches 1." Coinbase's entire business is to irreversibly and permanently send you Bitcoin in exchange for you sending them funds that you have months to dispute and reverse. And this is with reasonable fees that put a check-cashing outfit to shame. Of course they're going to err on the side of caution. Based on zero information whatsoever, I'm going to assume you're telling the truth. But for every honest person like you, there are probably at least two who truly are trying to steal Bitcoin from Coinbase. I don't like it any more than you do when businesses make mistakes. But jumping straight to "Ponzi scheme" is just silly.
- Mizza 9y ago
  I don't think it's unreasonable to think that they might using the cash influx from newer users to cover cash outs for older users. Which I suppose is fine if they keep balanced books, but not if they're not delivering advertised service to the new users, which they aren't. They took my money, gave me nothing, then went absolutely silent.
  - sowbug 9y ago
    Yes, it is unreasonable. You could say that any business "might [be] using the cash influx from newer users to cover cash outs for older users." Seriously, don't hide behind the word "might." It's a lazy defense of an accusation that's based more on emotion than reason or facts. I once ordered a computer from Dell. The sealed box arrived empty. I went through few weeks of increasingly enraged emails and phone calls. Should I have assumed Dell was a Ponzi scheme?
- djsumdog 9y ago
  If you have a statement on your site saying you will deposit x coins in y days, you should do that. If you don't for a lot of people, then something is wrong with your business and no, people should not trust you. > in exchange for you sending them funds that you have months to dispute and reverse and here we see the limits of crypto currency and the legitimate concerns people have with it.
ForRealsies 9y ago
The fact that HN is just discovering Coinbase (Normiebase) and not discussing the in's and out's of Etherdelta tells me this bubble still has a far way to go before it bursts.
- AgentME 9y ago
  How many fund-stealing XSS attacks has EtherDelta been hit with by now? It should be considered criminal that they still haven't put up a competent Content-Security-Policy header that would entirely block that class of exploits. Their current one is trivially-bypassable security theater that I tried reporting and got blown off. It's probably for the best that they don't have more attention.

by Mizza 9y ago

This happened to me as well a few weeks back. Smells a lot like a Ponzi scheme. Looking for a new exchange, but they're all having problems with staying online or verifying new accounts.

H99189 9y ago

Did you end up getting your coins from Coinbase?

Mizza 9y ago
In that particular case, no.
- H99189 9y ago
  Well now I'm worried. I also bought a tiny amount of ETH and BTC which is still in my account but I'm really worried about getting the funds out, even if it's just a refund of my original USD.
  - Mizza 9y ago
    I didn't come here to spread doubt, just to +1 with my experience. I have had other transactions with them go okay, but when this one went wrong I realized how absolutely abysmal their support is. They stole my money and I'm being downvoted for it, ha!
  - j4ship 9y ago
    why did you give them so much money that you are "really worried" dont be irresponsible, its a new venture , dont put in your life savings ... just a couple of dollars , try it out if it doesnt work then at least its not something to be "really worried" about I gave them money , they gave me coin , everything worked ... maybe you made them angry and tried to do something illegal on their site so they shut your user down. I hear they prioritize "good" users in their system. There is a section where there is the type of account you add, if you add a bank account you get special treatment
    - H99189 9y ago
      I have a linked bank account. Can you elaborate please, how could I have possibly made them "angry" at me for buying Litecoins?
    - ultraluminous 9y ago
      "maybe you made them angry and tried to do something illegal on their site so they shut your user down." Ahh, crypto-punk-decentralized-liberatrians never seize to amaze with the level of double-think they can achieve. How someone can hold both "the government is evil and might take your money" and "maybe you made this website angry so they didn't give you your money" at the same time is truly impressice.
      - hjjiehebebe 9y ago
        > crypto-punk-decentralized-liberatrians Woah, nice strawman
    - spookthesunset 9y ago
      > just a couple of dollars , try it out if it doesnt work then at least its not something to be "really worried" about Could you imagine living in a world where you had to start every business relationship by only making extremely small "beta test" transactions, be it a trip to Target to opening an account at your local credit union. Like, on your first trip to Costco, you only bought a box of gum because you couldn't ever be sure they wouldn't somehow completely fuck you over and if they did fuck you over the societal response would always be "LOL too bad, so sad.... shouldn't have trusted them!!!" I dunno about anybody else, but that really isn't the world I would want to live in. There is value, substantial value, to trust others and when that trust fails, having a solid legal system to back you up. If you cannot trust anybody but yourself, every transaction you make becomes significantly more expensive.
      - hjjiehebebe 9y ago
        This is more like a money transmitter than a Costco. Paypal pull this shit all the time, if you want a non crypto example

sowbug 9y ago

> This happened to me as well a few weeks back. Smells a lot like a Ponzi scheme. Readers, please enshrine this comment as the canonical example of the Cryptocurrency Corollary of Godwin's Law: "As an online discussion about cryptocurrency grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Ponzi approaches 1." Coinbase's entire business is to irreversibly and permanently send you Bitcoin in exchange for you sending them funds that you have months to dispute and reverse. And this is with reasonable fees that put a check-cashing outfit to shame. Of course they're going to err on the side of caution. Based on zero information whatsoever, I'm going to assume you're telling the truth. But for every honest person like you, there are probably at least two who truly are trying to steal Bitcoin from Coinbase. I don't like it any more than you do when businesses make mistakes. But jumping straight to "Ponzi scheme" is just silly.

Mizza 9y ago
I don't think it's unreasonable to think that they might using the cash influx from newer users to cover cash outs for older users. Which I suppose is fine if they keep balanced books, but not if they're not delivering advertised service to the new users, which they aren't. They took my money, gave me nothing, then went absolutely silent.
- sowbug 9y ago
  Yes, it is unreasonable. You could say that any business "might [be] using the cash influx from newer users to cover cash outs for older users." Seriously, don't hide behind the word "might." It's a lazy defense of an accusation that's based more on emotion than reason or facts. I once ordered a computer from Dell. The sealed box arrived empty. I went through few weeks of increasingly enraged emails and phone calls. Should I have assumed Dell was a Ponzi scheme?
djsumdog 9y ago
If you have a statement on your site saying you will deposit x coins in y days, you should do that. If you don't for a lot of people, then something is wrong with your business and no, people should not trust you. > in exchange for you sending them funds that you have months to dispute and reverse and here we see the limits of crypto currency and the legitimate concerns people have with it.

ForRealsies 9y ago

The fact that HN is just discovering Coinbase (Normiebase) and not discussing the in's and out's of Etherdelta tells me this bubble still has a far way to go before it bursts.

AgentME 9y ago
How many fund-stealing XSS attacks has EtherDelta been hit with by now? It should be considered criminal that they still haven't put up a competent Content-Security-Policy header that would entirely block that class of exploits. Their current one is trivially-bypassable security theater that I tried reporting and got blown off. It's probably for the best that they don't have more attention.