Bitcoin Forum

Circle, Goldman Sachs-backed payments company, has acquired U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex in order to extend its commitment to a new vision for global finance.

Source: https://hype.codes/circle-buys-poloniex-cryptocurrency-exchange

What is your opinion about the acquisition? How could it affect the market?

Goldman Sachs, I just knew it. All their talk about launching a 'trading desk' has finally come to a more serious level. Later Lloyd Blankfein even refuted the prior statements, which was a sign that they leaked too much information. It's safe to say that they are not yet comfortable to get involved into crypto directly, probably due to lacking regulations, but them controlling everything through a proxy is basically the same. One thing is sure, Poloniex instantly gained a whole lot more credibility, which it definitely needed after all their issues and whatnot. If they play it well, Poloniex can become the largest crypto exchange again, where they at a later point might function as futures and options exchange as well. Definitely a major plus this ecosystem!

http://fortune.com/2018/02/26/circle-cryptocurrency-trade-bitcoin/

This Fortune article has more information. I found this news incredible. Poloniex is a great exchange, but it has many problems to escalate. Support is one of the worst that exists and any problem you take takes weeks or months to resolve. Besides, nobody knows very well who are the owners there is little transparency on basic issues. And with that confusion about USDT, no one knew the exchange's position and if they actually have liquidity. Exciting news.

Circle reentering the crypto markets definitely adds legitimacy to the industry. The news bodes well for the markets in general, but it's especially good for tokens. Here's a slide from a Circle presentation that was leaked this morning. Check out the second section in particular:
https://i.imgur.com/moQj4z0.jpg

Basically, Circle told the SEC that they would turn Poloniex into a fully registered/licensed broker-dealer. In return, the SEC said they wouldn't pursue enforcement actions for any past behavior. Pretty sweet deal.

Regarding price, it's bullish. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. After all, news tends to catalyze price action based on market sentiment. Good news in a bear market doesn't make much of a difference. Short term, the news may have helped foment that short squeeze that happened overnight. Long term, I was concerned about regulatory actions towards Poloniex (and others), so I'm glad we can drop that worry.

No doubt that long term speaking, this is can turn out to be a significant contributor of growth for crypto in general, but it will take intense effort to make Poloniex gain its dominant position in this market back. If we look at Poloniex in the last months, they consistently lost volume month after month, and I don't think it will stop just because Circle (GS backed) has bought them. It will require a completely new approach, which will take a lot time and effort to force through. I however hope that they at least will allow people to trade coin versus actual fiat pairs instead of shitty Tether -- Circle has the connections and capital to obtain the right licenses to legally be allowed to process money, and thus get rid of Tether as main 'fiat' pair.

when i see millions of customers queuing up to trade BTC and ETH on robinhood, it seems obvious that lots of people want a reputable, licensed and well-known place to trade. especially when it comes to securities.


that would put poloniex worlds above the competition in turns of reputability.

also, exchange popularity comes in waves. poloniex volume moved to bittrex. then bittrex volume moved to binance. IMO, exchange UX is so bad that any of them could rise back to the top if they offered the right incentives, UI, trade engine and markets (listing new coins).


there's no way they'll keep listing tether markets. no licensed US exchange is going to touch USDT.

I think it will bring fresh air to the current price movement as we have seen bitcoin suddenly rose above $10K after days of going down for unknown reason. There might be some insider trading, but its pure speculation and we don't have proof on that.

But one things for sure, Circle joining the picture has its own intention. They are not here to earn few thousands but millions. But they have to do a better marketing and improved Poloniex services so that they can regain the dominance that they once had.

Maybe so. But Goldman Sachs is the master manipulator. I'm guessing they (as market makers) had a hand in the bearish distribution that preceded this entire decline since December. And now that Bitcoin (and more importantly, altcoins) are in the shitter, now is the time to buy an altcoin exchange? :P

It's just too damn contrived to assume this is all coincidence. GS/Circle insiders have probably been accumulating...

There goes my ID and verifying documents, straight to Goldman Sach's database and also possibly going to the IRS and other US government institutions soon hehehe.

But really, should we worry? Is our privacy safe with Circle? I do not even know why I trusted Poloniex in the first place.

Maybe they are the reason why the market is bearish during this past few days. We are heading upwards but suddenly a downward trend again. Maybe they are the one accumulating all this time but then it is all just speculation as we don't know what is really happening behind those prices. Poloniex has been the number one exchange and because of previous issues, many transferred to other exchanges and now it seems like they are getting back their throne. Well, I hope those who are having issues with them will eventually be solved especially of this new acquisition and they are heading for a larger volume.

Bitter that Goldman sachs is a bunch of hypocrites and have been for years, finally decided to come around I guess money speaks volumes and never trust them of course it is was in due course.
Glad I didn't update the legacy account not for lack of trying prior to the merger but lack of useful camera ... and lacking ability to upload scanned documents ya not worth it there are better alternatives I'll let the US centric exchanges do their process and keep the observer account but I'll tether to the Chinese ship for now. (At least he is transparently sketchy on purpose ha-ha hood ftw)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamelaambler/2018/02/07/changpeng-zhao-binance-exchange-crypto-cryptocurrency/#3b95ad9c1eee

Sadly, Goldman Sach has no choice but to comply if ever the IRS can find a court-backed order for any information from the clients of Poloniex. We have seen the same thing with Coinbase. Exchanges are there for the money and they don't want to get entangled with any government agency all because it can threaten their money factory. This is something we have to accept otherwise find another good exchange not under the power and influence of USA.

Circle only care about the Dollars.  Their first attempt at creating an exchange was a reasonably dismal failure despite the fanfare of their launch.  Then they tried to blame Bitcoin (https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/5h2mgj/cirlce_ceo_blame_openly_bitcoin_devs_in_wsj/) for the fact that their business model sucked and they weren't competitive.  Now they're back for another try by simply buying an established exchange that I assume are quite profitable.  I hope people stop using Poloniex to the point where the volumes are as miniscule and pointless as Circle's first attempt, so they fall flat on their face again and go away for good this time.

Avoid.

But what about the users outside of the US who are not residents? How would they be able to pay the IRS? They don't have accountants, some of them are only students, and I reckon many of the users are the people in this forum who are really from Asian countries, just by looking at how they speak English.

Also, when they say taxable, they mean capital gains made when you trade to fiat, right? Not bitcoin?