Ask HN: How can Coinbase make good on deposits/withdrawals?

Re:Ask HN: How can Coinbase make good on deposits/withdrawals? by wereHamster on Thursday December 07, 2017 @12:26PM (#15871927)

Replace BTC for EUR, CHF, GBP or any other currency (or even a physical good, like an ounce of gold) and see what changes. The fact that BTC is a cryptocurrency doesn't change anything in how trades happen. And the fact that 1BTC used to be 10USD but now is 10k USD is no different than 1USD being 0.95EUR one year ago and 0.85EUR today. The difference is larger, yes, but that doesn't matter.

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Re:Ask HN: How can Coinbase make good on deposits/withdrawals? by ethagknight on Thursday December 07, 2017 @04:01PM (#15874171)

While you may be right, the difference to me, and the main reason why I originally asked the question, is that USD has the full force and guarantee of the us government. AAPL has a discounted future cashflow. Gold has industrial, sentimental and government consensus value. BTC has none of that, just a consensus of value based on active trades, which (side note) may well be the best thing about BTC.

I recently sold my little stash of BTC because I just realized that I don't understand at all what is happening regarding BTC, why it is happening, and whether it will continue to happen. All this BTC has no where to go but into other prospective wallets. I also had a sudden concern that there is no reason to trust Coinbase, let alone the market or BTC in general, and why would I leave money with people I have no reason to trust and have no means of penalizing should they fail to honor their terms with me.

The reality, as others point out, is that Coinbase has people dumping real money into their system to get in on BTC, and thats what Coinbase use to pay my withdrawal, which is as simple as I could have imagined it. I just dont know why.

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Re:Ask HN: How can Coinbase make good on deposits/withdrawals? by thedragonslayer on Thursday December 07, 2017 @04:19PM (#15874358)

I'm with you ethagknight. Look at my comment below. I think it's a different ballgame at these prices, counting even more on coinbase that they are doing the rational things.

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Re:Ask HN: How can Coinbase make good on deposits/withdrawals? by aaavl2821 on Thursday December 07, 2017 @12:47PM (#15872182)

the structure of the exchanges and the market make a huge difference in how trades happen. one very real example of this is happening now: many people cant make BTC trades happen, while "uptime" for the other markets you mention is virtually 100%

so the fact that BTC is crypto doesnt change anything about how trades happen, but the massive differences in market structure between crypto and established markets makes a huge difference

edit: and the fact that the difference is larger does matter. volatility is one of the core inputs of derivatives pricing, and for a derivatives market to exist, volatility must be estimable. having a derivatives market has major influence on prices and liquidity of the market for the original security. for BTC to really go mainstream, markets need to evolve

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