> That success comes from acting like a bank. Coinbase draws in customer funds via bank wires. It stores its assets—numerical keys that unlock coins—in vaults.

> That success comes from acting like a bank. Coinbase draws in customer funds via bank wires. It stores its assets—numerical keys that unlock coins—in vaults. It boasts of insurance coverage from Lloyd’s of London. It has a security staff of 41, including an Iraq War veteran assessing perimeter risks and a Ph.D. cryptographer doing the same for mathematical assaults. It is a bank, that instead of storing cash, stores keys. It is centralized. It complies with regulators. It does allow you to withdraw your keys into your own wallet, but a bank also allows you to withdraw your cash to your physical wallet. It walks like a bank, and it quacks like a bank. It is a bank.