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Coinbase is the leading US regulated crypto currency exchange. There are bigger ones outside of the US but if you want to actually buy cryptos and your are a US

by jcfrei 6y ago

Coinbase is the leading US regulated crypto currency exchange. There are bigger ones outside of the US but if you want to actually buy cryptos and your are a US based investor chances are you will have to stick with them. I think they will do just fine.

runako 6y ago
PayPal is bigger, and they offer trading of some crypto currencies. And notably, PayPal's market penetration is much greater than Coinbase's. https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/crypto https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/crypto
- tcoff91 6y ago
  Buying bitcoin with PayPal isn't equivalent with buying from Coinbase or other exchanges/brokers. You can't send your bitcoin outside of PayPal. You cannot withdraw to your own wallet/cold storage.
  - runako 6y ago
    Not equivalent, sure. PayPal's crypto appears to be aimed at the less-technical users who want crypto exposure. There's surely a market for that. Perhaps they can play the Windows to Coinbase's Linux. > You cannot withdraw to your own wallet/cold storage. The prevailing mass interest in Bitcoin is for speculation, which doesn't require an offline wallet. Letting PayPal hold it is fine for most users.
  - scurvy 6y ago
    It sounds like PayPal isn't actually buying Bitcoin, but instead created their own proxy bookkeeping instrument. Speculation, but that's what it sounds like to me if you can't have Bitcoin's utility and only its store/speculation.
    - tcoff91 6y ago
      That sounds extremely risky for PayPal. They're effectively shorting bitcoin by doing that. If the price rises dramatically they have to just come up with that money out of their own coffers. If they buy bitcoin they can merely liquidate it and pay you the proceeds when you sell your paypalcoins.
      - scurvy 6y ago
        They could hedge with futures contracts in a more liquid, reliable manner.
tcoff91 6y ago
Binance.us, Kraken, Gemini, cash app, crypto.com, etc... there are many many ways for people in USA to buy & sell cryptocurrency. Most of them are more reliable than coinbase. Coinbase's main advantage is just being earlier to the game than most, and many of their users will continue using them because they don't yet have a reason to put in the effort to switch.
- optimiz3 6y ago
  Also Bittrex which is regulated in WA state.
optimiz3 6y ago
Gemini is regulated, more stable, and doesn't randomly perma-ban with no recourse when their AI runs amok.
dcolkitt 6y ago
Except if you go for decentralized exchanges, that sidesteps regulation and KYC/AML entirely. If countries keep fragmenting their crypto regulations, then so will liquidity. The decentralized exchanges will be the only venues left that pool liquidity at a global scale. You still need a centralized exchange to be an on-ramp to go from regular money to the blockchain. But that's way less lucrative. You convert your dollars to USDT/WBTC/Ethereum at Coinbase, transfer to your wallet, then do 99% of trading/gambling on Uniswap. That's not a future where Coinbase is very valuable.
- jcfrei 6y ago
  Decentralized exchanges still have lots of issues that would prevent a serious investor from using it. And sidestepping KYC/AML regulations is not an option for any institutional investor.
  - elevenoh 6y ago
    >And sidestepping KYC/AML regulations is not an option for any institutional investor. institutions can invest in a decentralized software contracts (which by nature, don't KYC) like anyone else. it's just not common right now.
- ericmay 6y ago
  > You convert your dollars to USDT/WBTC/Ethereum at Coinbase, transfer to your wallet, then do 99% of trading/gambling on Uniswap. That's not a future where Coinbase is very valuable. But then Coinbase would just charge high fees for doing so and draw those down over time if/when competitors enter the market. Most "regular people" are going to use trusted and established brands and companies. They don't want to see their money go poof.
- ineedasername 6y ago
  If countries keep fragmenting their crypto regulations, then so will liquidity. Not necessarily. The regulatory landscape in traditional finance is somewhat fragmented as well, which simply means people/institutions/corporations shop around for the regulatory venue they prefer. Or the US can impose its own de-facto global regulations, similar to what it already does on a global scale because a huge % of finance goes through US banks at some point. For example: Want to go against the Iran sanctions? Well, you can, legally, if your country hasn't signed on to them. You just won't ever be able to do business that touches anything US related. Which means you won't be able to do business with any other major western or global bank either under threat of the US cutting ties with them. Without large institutions, and a few of the largest playing the part of "market makers" that provide liquidity, you won't get significant liquidity for large moves, not unlike the current crypto situation. And large institutions will always be subject to the sort of regulatory situations above. It's a bit of a paradox: Part of crypto's appeal is its freedom from regulation. But in order for crypto to really go mainstream, global financial systems & their regulations. Nations have a strong interest in keeping monetary policy within their control. They will use every tool at their disposal to make sure crypto can't do an end-run around that control.
puranjay 6y ago
Coinbase, and to some degree, Binance, have such a stranglehold on the market that any coin listing on these exchanges immediately causes them to rise anywhere from 100-500%. New projects will even tease "Binance listing coming!" to build up hype for their projects. And Binance is still not as selective as Coinbase. A Coinbase listing is a marker of legitimacy for any crypto project. This reputation alone makes Coinbase a very valuable buy.

by jcfrei 6y ago

runako 6y ago

PayPal is bigger, and they offer trading of some crypto currencies. And notably, PayPal's market penetration is much greater than Coinbase's. https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/crypto https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/crypto

tcoff91 6y ago
Buying bitcoin with PayPal isn't equivalent with buying from Coinbase or other exchanges/brokers. You can't send your bitcoin outside of PayPal. You cannot withdraw to your own wallet/cold storage.
- runako 6y ago
  Not equivalent, sure. PayPal's crypto appears to be aimed at the less-technical users who want crypto exposure. There's surely a market for that. Perhaps they can play the Windows to Coinbase's Linux. > You cannot withdraw to your own wallet/cold storage. The prevailing mass interest in Bitcoin is for speculation, which doesn't require an offline wallet. Letting PayPal hold it is fine for most users.
- scurvy 6y ago
  It sounds like PayPal isn't actually buying Bitcoin, but instead created their own proxy bookkeeping instrument. Speculation, but that's what it sounds like to me if you can't have Bitcoin's utility and only its store/speculation.
  - tcoff91 6y ago
    That sounds extremely risky for PayPal. They're effectively shorting bitcoin by doing that. If the price rises dramatically they have to just come up with that money out of their own coffers. If they buy bitcoin they can merely liquidate it and pay you the proceeds when you sell your paypalcoins.
    - scurvy 6y ago
      They could hedge with futures contracts in a more liquid, reliable manner.

tcoff91 6y ago

Binance.us, Kraken, Gemini, cash app, crypto.com, etc... there are many many ways for people in USA to buy & sell cryptocurrency. Most of them are more reliable than coinbase. Coinbase's main advantage is just being earlier to the game than most, and many of their users will continue using them because they don't yet have a reason to put in the effort to switch.

optimiz3 6y ago
Also Bittrex which is regulated in WA state.

optimiz3 6y ago

Gemini is regulated, more stable, and doesn't randomly perma-ban with no recourse when their AI runs amok.

dcolkitt 6y ago

Except if you go for decentralized exchanges, that sidesteps regulation and KYC/AML entirely. If countries keep fragmenting their crypto regulations, then so will liquidity. The decentralized exchanges will be the only venues left that pool liquidity at a global scale. You still need a centralized exchange to be an on-ramp to go from regular money to the blockchain. But that's way less lucrative. You convert your dollars to USDT/WBTC/Ethereum at Coinbase, transfer to your wallet, then do 99% of trading/gambling on Uniswap. That's not a future where Coinbase is very valuable.

jcfrei 6y ago
Decentralized exchanges still have lots of issues that would prevent a serious investor from using it. And sidestepping KYC/AML regulations is not an option for any institutional investor.
- elevenoh 6y ago
  >And sidestepping KYC/AML regulations is not an option for any institutional investor. institutions can invest in a decentralized software contracts (which by nature, don't KYC) like anyone else. it's just not common right now.
ericmay 6y ago
> You convert your dollars to USDT/WBTC/Ethereum at Coinbase, transfer to your wallet, then do 99% of trading/gambling on Uniswap. That's not a future where Coinbase is very valuable. But then Coinbase would just charge high fees for doing so and draw those down over time if/when competitors enter the market. Most "regular people" are going to use trusted and established brands and companies. They don't want to see their money go poof.
ineedasername 6y ago
If countries keep fragmenting their crypto regulations, then so will liquidity. Not necessarily. The regulatory landscape in traditional finance is somewhat fragmented as well, which simply means people/institutions/corporations shop around for the regulatory venue they prefer. Or the US can impose its own de-facto global regulations, similar to what it already does on a global scale because a huge % of finance goes through US banks at some point. For example: Want to go against the Iran sanctions? Well, you can, legally, if your country hasn't signed on to them. You just won't ever be able to do business that touches anything US related. Which means you won't be able to do business with any other major western or global bank either under threat of the US cutting ties with them. Without large institutions, and a few of the largest playing the part of "market makers" that provide liquidity, you won't get significant liquidity for large moves, not unlike the current crypto situation. And large institutions will always be subject to the sort of regulatory situations above. It's a bit of a paradox: Part of crypto's appeal is its freedom from regulation. But in order for crypto to really go mainstream, global financial systems & their regulations. Nations have a strong interest in keeping monetary policy within their control. They will use every tool at their disposal to make sure crypto can't do an end-run around that control.

puranjay 6y ago

Coinbase, and to some degree, Binance, have such a stranglehold on the market that any coin listing on these exchanges immediately causes them to rise anywhere from 100-500%. New projects will even tease "Binance listing coming!" to build up hype for their projects. And Binance is still not as selective as Coinbase. A Coinbase listing is a marker of legitimacy for any crypto project. This reputation alone makes Coinbase a very valuable buy.