Re:Coinbase down for maintenance
by thedragonslayer on Thursday December 07, 2017 @04:27PM
(#15874431)
What if Coinbase is the one buying large amounts of bitcoin? Then using reserves so they can buy/sell on both sides. See where it gets risky?
Bank runs are how fraudulent exchanges are caught: Bitcoin is self-auditing, and either you have it or you don't, there aren't IOUs or paper receipts.
Fractional reserve banking is a prisoner's dilemma, we all marginally benefit from the status quo of credit/debit/interest, but in a crisis, the first people to pull out win, and everyone else loses.