There are some companies which operate purely in the digital currency world, and never store people's money. They are not regulated businesses. I'm glad these exist (and it sounds like this is what you are looking for) but this is not Coinbase.

Coinbase is an exchange that integrates with the traditional financial system to help people convert their local currency into and out of digital currency. I wrote a post about this here which may help: https://medium.com/the-coinbase-blog/coinbase-is-not-a-walle...

When you say Coinbase tarnishes what Bitcoin stands for, I have to disagree. We are enabling millions of people to get access to digital currency so that it can succeed. We do this successfully by playing by the rules in the existing ecosystem. You may not like these rules, but if you want millions of people to have easy access to digital currency (so that a new economy can develop etc) we are the greatest ally you have on that mission.

One company can't play both roles, of integrating with the existing financial ecosystem, and creating the brave new world that you want to see. That role probably needs to be filled by separate companies.

We are much closer to Stripe and other businesses which don't allow adult businesses either. https://stripe.com/blog/why-some-businesses-arent-allowed

Further reading: https://medium.com/the-coinbase-blog/building-the-bridge-why...

Are you implying that by supporting my business you would not be playing by the rules? If that's what you're saying, you don't seem to be fully aware of the rules. That, or you have a fundamental misunderstanding of the financial ecosystem or somehow believe that a company selling mature content is not "playing by the rules".

My business has a physical store, existing relationships with banks, existing relationships with credit card companies, approval to sell adult comics on Amazon, and even approval to sell with PayPal (yes, they know we sell adult comics). When our customers requested we accept Bitcoin we turned to Coinbase, and you banned our account without providing a reason.

It's ironic, given their history, that PayPal is more accepting of merchants like myself than your company.

This is why I chose to speak up.

You may be an ally to the big banks, but you are not an ally to small businesses or consumers.

If I want terrible, uninformed, opaque service only when it is convenient for the other party, I can already get that at every bank I've ever dealt with.

You could be better than that, but it is hard to believe that that is what you are trying to do.

From your link: "As a result, the decision to support a business is not solely up to Stripe; it involves the various financial companies in the credit card processing chain. Their restrictions tend to be broad and, as a result, often pretty confusing."

You don't deal with visa/mastercard payment network companies do you? If not, how can you have the same rationalizations as Stripe? And of course if you share the same problems as credit card companies (of which there are SO many), what problems are you solving?

We do deal with visa/mastercard networks. They have rules, as do other financial institutions we work with.

Is it just that payment processing is an easier problem than storing money and acting as an exchange? So perhaps Coinbase's larger scope comes with more restrictions?

I am exhausted from waiting for a reply from your helpdesk: they just send the same canned reply, when this might be a code bug in your verification workflow.

On a side note, you have raised 100mm+ from VC. How do you ever hope to deliver these VCs a profit? Is Coinbase going to be a write down for these VC funds?

I had to add up all the transactions from their logs to figure out they made the mistake on their end. I got it all resolved but to have cryptocurrency transactions disappear after it's been registered?? Just boggles my mind as to how this could have happened.

I understand that many of these qualities are somewhat superficial when it comes to security and reliable service. What competing companies out there do a better job in your experience?

r/bitcoin is littered with such user complaints. It is sad that the best way to get support on Coinbase issues is to go on reddit to complain.

Many people have moved to Circle for a smoother consumer experience.

p.s. no relation to either Coinbase or Circle except as a consumer.

Then they incorrectly decided my immigration status and removed my bank connection.

I closed my account and asked for my inappropriately obtained information to be deleted. They refused to "protect" me from "identity theft". Screw them.

The other reason you see so many complaints there is that there are many scammers trying to buy digital currency with stolen credentials, and a common scammer tactic is to appear angry (via support channels, or any public forum) in the hopes that we will approve their purchase.

  No fees to move money, and no limits on how much you send or
  receive each week using your Circle account.

While on the consumer this its great, if the merchant side is horrid, you can bet it will hurt the adoption of bitcoin.

Unfortunately there are times when we would like to support a merchant but can't, but its a hard thing to keep the bridge open. You can read more here: https://medium.com/the-coinbase-blog/building-the-bridge-why...

I am exhausted from waiting for a reply from your helpdesk: they just send the same canned reply, when this might be a code bug in your verification workflow.

I would gladly raise from someone who's gone through the gauntlet, as opposed to someone who won the birth lottery and is investing money from the bank of mom and dad.