Coinbase - Become an Investor - Good Investment?

[Rob768]

Have you guys seen that Coinbase is actually accepting equity investments from crowdfunding.  It's listed on TheFundersclub.  What do you guys think?  Is Coinbase a solid investment?  What are the positives and negatives?  Do you use Coinbase currently?  Why or why not?  By the way here is a link to it posted on the Crowd Funding Forum.....

http://crowdfundingforum.com/showthread.php/618-Coinbase

Opinions are appreciated!
Rob

[WikileaksDude]

I think coinbase will have a bright future..

Lets see here:

Recent Investors:

Y Combinator (including Andreessen Horowitz, SV Angel, Yuri Milner, and General Catalyst), Alexis Ohanian, Greg Kidd, Garry Tan, and Harj Taggar.


What will I get when I invest?

Ownership in units of a fund set up for investment in Coinbase (see Investment Terms for details)
Membership in FundersClub Investor Club - network of FundersClub investors that get special invitations and early access to deals, invitations to private events with FundersClub investors and founders, membership gifts and other benefits
Thank you video from CEO
Inclusion on “Insider investor distribution list” to keep you in the loop when we hit certain milestones and also to ask for targeted help and advice (e.g., if we are looking for a new employee or connection, would love your help!)
Connect with Brian on Linked In

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[kiba]

Investing in coinbase is also betting that bitcoin is going to take off. It's a double bet.

[elux]

Very interesting. How many percent of the company does the full $250K represent in stock?

[jimbobway]

Brian made a bold claim on the Huff Po live show that an African country will adopt bitcoin in 5 to 10 years.  I wonder if there are plans in his company to make this happen.

[kiba]

Brian made a bold claim on the Huff Po live show that an African country will adopt bitcoin in 5 to 10 years.  I wonder if there are plans in his company to make this happen.

I thought he said a country will adopt bitcoin within 5 years.

The only question is: which country would be so bold as to adopt bitcoin as their official currency?

[jimbobway]

Brian made a bold claim on the Huff Po live show that an African country will adopt bitcoin in 5 to 10 years.  I wonder if there are plans in his company to make this happen.

I thought he said a country will adopt bitcoin within 5 years.

The only question is: which country would be so bold as to adopt bitcoin as their official currency?

Maybe not the boldest country but the country with the most inflation.

[Severian]

Very interesting. How many percent of the company does the full $250K represent in stock?

If you find an answer, please post here. I couldn't find the info either.

[Timbo925]

Brian made a bold claim on the Huff Po live show that an African country will adopt bitcoin in 5 to 10 years.  I wonder if there are plans in his company to make this happen.

I just want to point out this kind of thing already happens in Africa. (sort of)
In lands like Zimbabwe where the coin just keep deflating because the government keeps printing money. The people almost stop using the national currency. They use pre-paid cellphone credit. So in stead op paying cash, they send pre-paid credit to the other persons cell phone. The pre-paid currency is in $ so it doesn't deflate and their money is safe this way.

If you see this, I see a place for bitcoin in this system. The only problem is you still need an internet connected phone to do this. If this problem gets solved, I see it as a possibility a country would adopt this currency (as a secondary currency used by the people).

-Timbo925

[dissipate]

Looks like this is being done through thefundersclub.com.

From their 'How It Works' page https://thefundersclub.com/site/howitworks/:

Who can invest in FundersClub funds?
Accredited US investors can invest in FundersClub funds. Accredited investors are defined as individuals with greater than $200,000 of annual income (or $300,000 combined income with a spouse) or investors with $1 million or greater personal net worth, not including their primary residence. Entities in which all of the equity owners fall within the “individual” qualifications, as well as trusts with total assets greater than $5 million whose purchase is directed by a person with knowledge and experience in financial and business matters that such person is capable of evaluating the merits and risks of the prospective investment may also invest. All potential investors will need to complete an investor qualification questionnaire, which will be part of the legal documents you will need to sign, before any investment request is accepted.

So you have to be fairly wealthy to invest. Lame lame lame.

[crazy_rabbit]

Looks like this is being done through thefundersclub.com.

From their 'How It Works' page https://thefundersclub.com/site/howitworks/:

Who can invest in FundersClub funds?
Accredited US investors can invest in FundersClub funds. Accredited investors are defined as individuals with greater than $200,000 of annual income (or $300,000 combined income with a spouse) or investors with $1 million or greater personal net worth, not including their primary residence. Entities in which all of the equity owners fall within the “individual” qualifications, as well as trusts with total assets greater than $5 million whose purchase is directed by a person with knowledge and experience in financial and business matters that such person is capable of evaluating the merits and risks of the prospective investment may also invest. All potential investors will need to complete an investor qualification questionnaire, which will be part of the legal documents you will need to sign, before any investment request is accepted.

So you have to be fairly wealthy to invest. Lame lame lame.

Either fairly wealthy or married and wealthy. Not nice. I would be more supportive if coinbase reached out to the community more.

[Melbustus]

Looks like this is being done through thefundersclub.com.

From their 'How It Works' page https://thefundersclub.com/site/howitworks/:

Who can invest in FundersClub funds?
Accredited US investors can invest in FundersClub funds. Accredited investors are defined as individuals with greater than $200,000 of annual income (or $300,000 combined income with a spouse) or investors with $1 million or greater personal net worth, not including their primary residence. Entities in which all of the equity owners fall within the “individual” qualifications, as well as trusts with total assets greater than $5 million whose purchase is directed by a person with knowledge and experience in financial and business matters that such person is capable of evaluating the merits and risks of the prospective investment may also invest. All potential investors will need to complete an investor qualification questionnaire, which will be part of the legal documents you will need to sign, before any investment request is accepted.

So you have to be fairly wealthy to invest. Lame lame lame.

Either fairly wealthy or married and wealthy. Not nice. I would be more supportive if coinbase reached out to the community more.

I don't know much about coinbase (yet), but the investor restrictions are due to SEC regs. The JOBS act passed this spring actually opens up these restrictions considerably, allowing for true equity crowd-funding in the US. The SEC will probably have their regs revised sometime mid next year.

[DeathAndTaxes]

Looks like this is being done through thefundersclub.com.

...

So you have to be fairly wealthy to invest. Lame lame lame.

The good news is US securities laws will change in "January 2013 ? don't quote me on the date " and will allow crowd funding by investors who are not "accredited" (i.e. us normal shlubs).  Probably the only decent piece of legislation Obama has passed.

[Melbustus]

Yeah, lots of Kickstarter-like sites, but for actual equity, are springing up (will launch when the regs go into effect next year). I predict kind-of a wild-west of crowd-equity-funding for a couple years. Startups should have much easier access to seed capital, until enough un-diligent people/investors get burned sufficiently to yield a bunch of irritating negative press. So there'll be a big pull-back, etc, but long-term, I'm optimistic that this will really help good teams with good ideas get funding quicker and easier than now.

[labestiol]

I agree that it's probably a good investment, and I also would like to see projects like that grow.
But don't you think investing in BTC is better at this point ?
If coinbase take off, then btc will also take off. The opposite is not necessarily true

Thoughts ?

[Steve]

In a way, buying bitcoins is an investment in all bitcoin related companies.  You'll stand to benefit if any one or several of them are successful.

[dissipate]

In a way, buying bitcoins is an investment in all bitcoin related companies.  You'll stand to benefit if any one or several of them are successful.

So why are you involved with bit-pay? You could have just bought up a bunch of BTC instead. Are you doing charity work for the rest of us? 

[kiba]

In a way, buying bitcoins is an investment in all bitcoin related companies.  You'll stand to benefit if any one or several of them are successful.

So why are you involved with bit-pay? You could have just bought up a bunch of BTC instead. Are you doing charity work for the rest of us? 

Because you need an ecosystem for bitcoin to be successful. You can't just buy bitcoin and expect the ecosystem to grow.

[paraipan]

...

Because you need an ecosystem for bitcoin to be successful. You can't just buy bitcoin and expect the ecosystem to grow.

Yes you can, investing in bitcoin means putting trust in it which in exchange raises trust levels in other individuals, who build an ecosystem around it.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=103075.msg1130677#msg1130677

When you save money, you produce but do not consume. That's great. You deposit but do not withdraw, loaning everyone else use of the benefits of your labor. Deferred consumption should be rewarded as it's a form of investment.

[kiba]

Yes you can, investing in bitcoin means putting trust in it which in exchange raises trust levels in other individuals, who build an ecosystem around it.

And somebody still have to build their niches.