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Good for them. But am I the only one who finds it slightly ironic that the brainchild of distributed ledger tech and crypto currency capitalism is now filing fo

Good for them. But am I the only one who finds it slightly ironic that the brainchild of distributed ledger tech and crypto currency capitalism is now filing for IPO in what is the hallmark of old capitalism (regulated markets)?

candiddevmike 6y ago
It's always better to sell shovels
- koolba 6y ago
  Not quite. I'm sure both the company and owners have tons of crypto in their portfolio. But I'm also sure they'd love to be able to diversify that into boring fiat dollars and dollar based holdings too.
- Ekaros 6y ago
  This is not even selling the shovels... This renting a room to cash for gold traders...
mikepurvis 6y ago
Maybe, but I feel like that was always part of the point of Coinbase, providing the bridge between those worlds, and for some, bringing a sense of legitimacy and security to the proceedings. It’s not surprising they would look for a conventional exit.
afavour 6y ago
Ironic… or inevitable? In many ways Coinbase is that Bitcoin wasn’t supposed to be: a centralised authority that is responsible for a ton of activity on the platform. Not that it matters that much but I’d argue Coinbase wasn’t in the “spirit” of crypto currencies from the start. (but hey, I still used it! Couldn’t be bothered to work out how to buy Bitcoin a few years ago and they made it easy)
Cthulhu_ 6y ago
Well yeah, nobody uses crypto on its own, it's always in reference to fiat and Coinbase enables that.
- anonyxyz 6y ago
  See DeFi
olalonde 6y ago
Is it ironic that Coinbase takes fiat deposits and withdrawals? Many in the community view the existence of centralized exchanges as a necessary evil that is temporarily needed to bridge the old world of finance to the new one. It's hardly the brainchild of distributed ledger tech.
wtf_is_up 6y ago
It makes complete sense. You need a fiat ramp to get into the crypto ecosystem. You want the fiat ramp to be regulated.
capableweb 6y ago
Coinbase is the brainchild behind cryptocurrencies? How? They were not the first, they are not the biggest, they don't have the most cryptocurrencies/platforms, they are not the fastest/cheapest/best support and so on. In fact, I can't figure out a single thing that Coinbase is the best at in the cryptocurrency industry. So what do you mean with brainchild here?
- amenod 6y ago
  Note that GP stated they are "brainchild of cryptocurrencies". I don't think that the meaning you imply is what they had in mind.
  - capableweb 6y ago
    "brainchild of distributed ledger tech and crypto currency capitalism" sure sounds like they are implying Coinbase almost invented cryptocurrencies. But English is not my native language so maybe I misunderstand it wrong.
jcfrei 6y ago
There's just more money that you can raise if you go down the traditional IPO way. ICO tokens can be very lucrative too (check out BNB) but there's a lot more regulatory uncertainty around them. Plus fund raising is crazy at the moment on Wall Street so this makes perfect sense.

candiddevmike 6y ago

It's always better to sell shovels

koolba 6y ago
Not quite. I'm sure both the company and owners have tons of crypto in their portfolio. But I'm also sure they'd love to be able to diversify that into boring fiat dollars and dollar based holdings too.
Ekaros 6y ago
This is not even selling the shovels... This renting a room to cash for gold traders...

mikepurvis 6y ago

Maybe, but I feel like that was always part of the point of Coinbase, providing the bridge between those worlds, and for some, bringing a sense of legitimacy and security to the proceedings. It’s not surprising they would look for a conventional exit.

afavour 6y ago

Ironic… or inevitable? In many ways Coinbase is that Bitcoin wasn’t supposed to be: a centralised authority that is responsible for a ton of activity on the platform. Not that it matters that much but I’d argue Coinbase wasn’t in the “spirit” of crypto currencies from the start. (but hey, I still used it! Couldn’t be bothered to work out how to buy Bitcoin a few years ago and they made it easy)

Cthulhu_ 6y ago

Well yeah, nobody uses crypto on its own, it's always in reference to fiat and Coinbase enables that.

anonyxyz 6y ago
See DeFi

olalonde 6y ago

Is it ironic that Coinbase takes fiat deposits and withdrawals? Many in the community view the existence of centralized exchanges as a necessary evil that is temporarily needed to bridge the old world of finance to the new one. It's hardly the brainchild of distributed ledger tech.

wtf_is_up 6y ago

It makes complete sense. You need a fiat ramp to get into the crypto ecosystem. You want the fiat ramp to be regulated.

capableweb 6y ago

Coinbase is the brainchild behind cryptocurrencies? How? They were not the first, they are not the biggest, they don't have the most cryptocurrencies/platforms, they are not the fastest/cheapest/best support and so on. In fact, I can't figure out a single thing that Coinbase is the best at in the cryptocurrency industry. So what do you mean with brainchild here?

amenod 6y ago
Note that GP stated they are "brainchild of cryptocurrencies". I don't think that the meaning you imply is what they had in mind.
- capableweb 6y ago
  "brainchild of distributed ledger tech and crypto currency capitalism" sure sounds like they are implying Coinbase almost invented cryptocurrencies. But English is not my native language so maybe I misunderstand it wrong.

jcfrei 6y ago

There's just more money that you can raise if you go down the traditional IPO way. ICO tokens can be very lucrative too (check out BNB) but there's a lot more regulatory uncertainty around them. Plus fund raising is crazy at the moment on Wall Street so this makes perfect sense.