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December 11, 2017, 04:01:35 AM |
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Every tech company is building a "platform" when they are speaking with investors, but there simply aren't many true platforms in bitcoin. I'd argue that there are currently only two nascent bitcoin platforms worth watching in 2016: Coinbase and 21 Inc.
(Both happen to be the industry's investor darlings, so maybe there's something to this whole platform thing.)
Of the two, 21 probably has the edge given the company is 'fiat-free' and won't risk jeopardizing its business if a third-party app developer misuses the product.
21 needn't worry about what its users do with the virgin coins they mine on their devices: 21 isn't even transacting in bitcoin, they're merely selling the hardware to create new bitcoins. Brilliant for keeping regulatory costs – both tangible (legal fees) and intangible (employee headache) – down to near zero.
The Coinbase compliance team, on the other hand, is on the hook if apps built using Coinbase's 'wallet-as-a-service' promote money laundering or illegal money transmission.
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