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This is good news, but it's important to remember that the way Coinbase works is for Coinbase to keep the private keys. A Coinbase "wallet" is really more like

This is good news, but it's important to remember that the way Coinbase works is for Coinbase to keep the private keys. A Coinbase "wallet" is really more like a Coinbase demand deposit account. That means you are trusting Coinbase to hold on to your bitcoins, thus losing one of the key benefits of bitcoin, which is that you hold your money. A better alternative is the Blockchain.info app, but from my understanding this is not available for un-jailbroken iPhones (please correct me if I'm wrong).

w-ll 13y ago
Correct, I go as far as to not even really consider Coinbase a wallet, even though I know that's what there shooting for. I still like using Coinbase to buy when dips occur, It's the easiest way for US residents. Blockchain.info web interface I believe works on the iPhone, albeit It's been a while since I've been there. If you really want to embrace Bitcoin, build from source https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin
- cobrabyte 13y ago
  Agreed... Coinbase is simply a mechanism to purchase and move Bitcoins through to my bank account. I never felt right storing coins in anything other than a paper wallet.
mustapha 13y ago
https://coinbase.com/security https://coinbase.com/security
pmorici 13y ago
You can easily export and import paper wallets in the coinbase interface if you have a printer and a webcam.
- tedunangst 13y ago
  When you export a wallet by printing it, what happens to the digital copy?
  - kolinko 13y ago
    they delete it afaik
    - rmc 13y ago
      Sure, they say they delete it.
      - ok_craig 13y ago
        What's the business incentive for keeping the keys and lying about it?
        tedunangst 13y ago
        Deleting things is hard. Especially if you have backups. It's much easier to set a flag saying it's deleted.
ok_craig 13y ago
I think the key benefit of bitcoin here is that you have a choice as to who holds your bitcoin for you, as opposed to there being only one option: storing your money with a bank. You can store bitcoin with an online wallet or on your home computer, and there are risks in both cases. E.g. if you are afraid of getting hacked, or accidentally destroying your own keys (common enough to be a real concern), you may determine that storing your bitcoin with a service like Coinbase is better for you personally in your specific context. The advantage of bitcoin is being able to have that option, not that it's always necessarily better to store bitcoin on your own.

w-ll 13y ago

Correct, I go as far as to not even really consider Coinbase a wallet, even though I know that's what there shooting for. I still like using Coinbase to buy when dips occur, It's the easiest way for US residents. Blockchain.info web interface I believe works on the iPhone, albeit It's been a while since I've been there. If you really want to embrace Bitcoin, build from source https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin

cobrabyte 13y ago
Agreed... Coinbase is simply a mechanism to purchase and move Bitcoins through to my bank account. I never felt right storing coins in anything other than a paper wallet.

mustapha 13y ago

https://coinbase.com/security https://coinbase.com/security

pmorici 13y ago

You can easily export and import paper wallets in the coinbase interface if you have a printer and a webcam.

tedunangst 13y ago
When you export a wallet by printing it, what happens to the digital copy?
- kolinko 13y ago
  they delete it afaik
  - rmc 13y ago
    Sure, they say they delete it.
    - ok_craig 13y ago
      What's the business incentive for keeping the keys and lying about it?
      - tedunangst 13y ago
        Deleting things is hard. Especially if you have backups. It's much easier to set a flag saying it's deleted.

ok_craig 13y ago

I think the key benefit of bitcoin here is that you have a choice as to who holds your bitcoin for you, as opposed to there being only one option: storing your money with a bank. You can store bitcoin with an online wallet or on your home computer, and there are risks in both cases. E.g. if you are afraid of getting hacked, or accidentally destroying your own keys (common enough to be a real concern), you may determine that storing your bitcoin with a service like Coinbase is better for you personally in your specific context. The advantage of bitcoin is being able to have that option, not that it's always necessarily better to store bitcoin on your own.