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The bit about not being able to cash out over $1k is flat out false. The order book history from GDAX (I maintain a personal level 3 copy) also doesn't suggest

The bit about not being able to cash out over $1k is flat out false. The order book history from GDAX (I maintain a personal level 3 copy) also doesn't suggest market pressure at $12k beyond a lot of opportunists (myself included).

dsl 9y ago
Selling bitcoin and cashing out are two different things. The exchanges will happily let you deposit, buy, and sell, but when you want that wire transfer there are magically a bunch of hurdles to jump. BTC market cap is currently $233,616,547,500. The total USD held by reputable exchanges is probably in the low hundreds of millions.
- jsolson 9y ago
  I transferred in excess of $50k USD out without incident. Could I have done the same with $1M USD? I have no idea. The bar is considerably higher than $1k, though, and I'd wager is considerably higher than most people have to comfortably move around.
  - paulhodge 9y ago
    Yeah I also withdrew 5 figures of cash during the crazy period. I have an old Coinbase account.. I think there are worse delays/limits put on new accounts. For sure, if everyone did a bank run then there would be a liquidity shortage. But saying that is wayyy different than what the article said, that most people couldn't even withdraw $1k.
    - TomVDB 9y ago
      But why would there be a liquidity shortage? It's obvious that this would be the case in a fractional banking system, but assuming that Gemini or Coinbase aren't complete crooks, through which mechanism would they not have enough cash on hand? For each transaction on their exchange, they'd receive money from the buyer and pass that on to the seller?
      - jsolson 9y ago
        You can trade BTC/LTC and BTC/ETH as well, though, and all of the cryptocurrencies can move into/out of them at will. There are steps they could take to ensure liquidity in USD, but they're relatively expensive. I, personally, prefer to keep my dollars in dollars and in an FDIC insured account.
  - rewtraw 9y ago
    My Gemini account says I have a $100k daily USD withdrawal limit via ACH, and doesn't note a limit for wire transfers. I haven't needed to max that out yet, but I don't think I would have a problem selling millions of USD worth of BTC/ETH and withdrawing it to my bank account.
- chatmasta 9y ago
  I appreciate the simplicity of your calculus, but I think you’re being downvoted for lack of citations. The value of the simplicity of your claim is also what makes it an extraordinary claim. Therefore you should back it up with extraordinary evidence. That said, you’re being upvoted because what you’re saying makes instinctual sense.

dsl 9y ago

Selling bitcoin and cashing out are two different things. The exchanges will happily let you deposit, buy, and sell, but when you want that wire transfer there are magically a bunch of hurdles to jump. BTC market cap is currently $233,616,547,500. The total USD held by reputable exchanges is probably in the low hundreds of millions.

jsolson 9y ago
I transferred in excess of $50k USD out without incident. Could I have done the same with $1M USD? I have no idea. The bar is considerably higher than $1k, though, and I'd wager is considerably higher than most people have to comfortably move around.
- paulhodge 9y ago
  Yeah I also withdrew 5 figures of cash during the crazy period. I have an old Coinbase account.. I think there are worse delays/limits put on new accounts. For sure, if everyone did a bank run then there would be a liquidity shortage. But saying that is wayyy different than what the article said, that most people couldn't even withdraw $1k.
  - TomVDB 9y ago
    But why would there be a liquidity shortage? It's obvious that this would be the case in a fractional banking system, but assuming that Gemini or Coinbase aren't complete crooks, through which mechanism would they not have enough cash on hand? For each transaction on their exchange, they'd receive money from the buyer and pass that on to the seller?
    - jsolson 9y ago
      You can trade BTC/LTC and BTC/ETH as well, though, and all of the cryptocurrencies can move into/out of them at will. There are steps they could take to ensure liquidity in USD, but they're relatively expensive. I, personally, prefer to keep my dollars in dollars and in an FDIC insured account.
- rewtraw 9y ago
  My Gemini account says I have a $100k daily USD withdrawal limit via ACH, and doesn't note a limit for wire transfers. I haven't needed to max that out yet, but I don't think I would have a problem selling millions of USD worth of BTC/ETH and withdrawing it to my bank account.
chatmasta 9y ago
I appreciate the simplicity of your calculus, but I think you’re being downvoted for lack of citations. The value of the simplicity of your claim is also what makes it an extraordinary claim. Therefore you should back it up with extraordinary evidence. That said, you’re being upvoted because what you’re saying makes instinctual sense.