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It most certainly is not a distraction. Coinbase provides a blockchain analysis suite and sells it. It's within mission at face value. Some people may find it

by fleddr 4y ago

It most certainly is not a distraction. Coinbase provides a blockchain analysis suite and sells it. It's within mission at face value. Some people may find it controversial to sell to ICE specifically. Anyone is free to believe that, but they are just optics. Any institute or company you dislike is going to use a wide array of COTS software, and you won't stop that. They'll probably also use electricity and order sandwiches. It's ridiculously ineffective to try and "cancel" any institute by means of suppliers. If you have a problem with ICE tactics, engage in real politics rather than Twitter politics. Further, I'd argue that before judging there has to be more clarity on what this tool is used for. Maybe it tracks down narcos, money laundrers, human traffickers, the like. Things that might align with your politics, instead of oppose them. Or perhaps they do use it in unfair and harmful ways. We simple don't know, at least I don't. As for the geolocation part, Coinbase's claim is that they never sold customer private data, and that it's all on-chain. If that is true, then at best it's a lame action. Not to mention that your location data is shared all day every day.

jakelazaroff 4y ago
Just to make sure we’re on the same page, here is Coinbase’s mission: > Coinbase’s mission is to create an open financial system for the world. This means we want to use cryptocurrency to bring economic freedom to people all over the world. It’s not clear to me how selling geolocation data to ICE is within the scope of the mission. In fact, it seems to me that it actually hinders it. And remember, it’s (allegedly) not just talk for Coinbase. They’re mission focused. They pushed out employees who didn’t agree with it.
- fleddr 4y ago
  Well, I think the open part is covered. It's an open block chain and it's not surprising to have analysis tools to work with the blockchain. These types of tools are used by exchanges, federal agencies, even divorce lawyers. The geolocation part is still not clear to me. They claim to not have sold customer data, so that means said data is on the blockchain itself, or can be derived from it. If that reading is correct, even the word "selling" is incorrect. Further, an open financial system does not mean a total lack of regulation or tracking of bad actors. I would also assume that "economic freedom" is less applicable to criminals, assuming the tool is used for that.

by fleddr 4y ago

jakelazaroff 4y ago

Just to make sure we’re on the same page, here is Coinbase’s mission: > Coinbase’s mission is to create an open financial system for the world. This means we want to use cryptocurrency to bring economic freedom to people all over the world. It’s not clear to me how selling geolocation data to ICE is within the scope of the mission. In fact, it seems to me that it actually hinders it. And remember, it’s (allegedly) not just talk for Coinbase. They’re mission focused. They pushed out employees who didn’t agree with it.

fleddr 4y ago
Well, I think the open part is covered. It's an open block chain and it's not surprising to have analysis tools to work with the blockchain. These types of tools are used by exchanges, federal agencies, even divorce lawyers. The geolocation part is still not clear to me. They claim to not have sold customer data, so that means said data is on the blockchain itself, or can be derived from it. If that reading is correct, even the word "selling" is incorrect. Further, an open financial system does not mean a total lack of regulation or tracking of bad actors. I would also assume that "economic freedom" is less applicable to criminals, assuming the tool is used for that.