Just wondering what some of your opinions were on coinbase, particularly their business model of acting as sort of a full-reserve bitcoin bank that issues claims to bitcoin rather than actual bitcoins.
Do you frown upon this type of centralized service, or do you see it as an essential service to add extra convenience beyond what is capable with the standard bitcoin protocol?
I didn't like them at first but now have found how to incorporate them into my BTC buying and selling and now I use them more than any other exchange. Bid/ask spread is usually pretty small. They do charge a relatively high commission but it's worth it if you are getting a good price, esp when selling.
Bitstamp has tight spread too, but if you are in the USA, not that easy to get your funds out of there unless you want to do wire transfer or send the BTC to somewhere else to sell it. Anyway for now I like Coinbase.