Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin never sleeps or slows. With the holidays approaching, there was zero chance of the world’s leading cryptocurrency taking a break so we could tend to last-minute shopping and drinking. Like the primadonna that she is, this week in bitcoin continued the year’s trend of hogging the limelight, with tales of rising fees and Coinbase misbehavior fueling much of the action.

Don’t Be Evil
A lot of people had a lot of things to say about Coinbase this week, and most of it was negative. Whether it was raging about insider trading, disastrously introducing bitcoin cash, or slowness to adopt Segwit, Coinbase was taking flak from all sides. It’s a remarkable change in public sentiment towards an exchange that was once regarded so highly by many. Could Coinbase be in danger of becoming bitcoin’s Google – a monopoly that winds up doing more evil than good?

The week began with CME futures launching, which proved to be anti-climactic in the end. There was a sense that the market had been overbought in the weeks leading up, which may account for the sizeable slump that occurred mid-week. CME futures might have been a non-event, but there were plenty of talking points to be had elsewhere – like fees for instance.

Read more: https://news.bitcoin.com/this-week-in-bitcoin-markets-wobble-while-fees-keep-soaring/

I have pointed out a few times already that the market Coinbase operates in, is severely centralized due to its immense size. If this continues, and I am sure it will, they will be able to force through insane pressure on all involved parties as economical majority to get things done as per its way. For that reason I strongly hope that Coinbase's competitors will up their game and start pushing them back a notch or two. On the other hand, I can definitely understand why people make use of Coinbase and at the same time GDAX. It offers the best possible convenience to institutions and the average person looking to buy and sell crypto.

Coinbase introducing Bitcoin Cash is overall good for the crypto ecosystem, but the insider trading allegations leave a bad taste in the mouth. Right now, it is the Company which is investing these allegations. If the regulators decide to get involved (although crypto is largely unregulated, somebody could still file a case), then it will be problematic.