Coinbase Insured

[allgoodthings1]

http://blog.coinbase.com/post/95927658922/coinbase-insured

[bitcoinstarter]

http://blog.coinbase.com/post/95927658922/coinbase-insured

About time ?

[cypherdoc]

well that's good news.

[allgoodthings1]

About time we knew, I guess that is.  It's been a knowable circumstance for a long time. Just not widely known, I guess.

[kokojie]

Old news, coinbase has been insured for over a year...

[juju]

Thats great they insure coins but what if someone logs into your account and buys 10btc from your Bank transfer and sends it off? Your out 5000$?

Coinbase has security steps in place to prevent this from happening to a user if they protect themselves. You can setup 2-Factor Authentication for Buys/logins/api key creations + Email notifications, I think I read in one blog post that you could even have your coinbase buys go directly to your multisig "coinbase vault" after the waiting period.

Any buys on coinbase over 1000USD are not instantaneous, a 10btc buy on coinbase most likely you can get them too cancel the pending order if you inform them you were hacked and provide details etc. The reason they can cancel it is because it takes multiple days to receive coin values in amounts greater than 1000, also I've heard from people that some banks won't debit coinbase right away with larger purchases so that can add yet another day or two before the funds leave your account. Since all of this waiting for the coins happens before your account ever gains control of the coins you should have enough time to contact coinbase and your bank and get it canceled.

tldr; Worse case scenario in my mind someone does manage to get into your coinbase, they would make a buy for ~999.99 dollars each week you don't notice because it would be instant and they could broadcast a transaction to a wallet they own within seconds.

[Mitchell]

Well, this is great news if you ask me. It's always nice to know that your coins are "secure" somewhere.

[haploid23]

So they're saying that they are immune against another mt.gox incident, as well as individual theft due to their part only. It's too bad you can't actually store your fiat on there as a reserve for day trading. All transactions are 4-day wait periods until your btc or USD clears.

[franky1]

as long as it covers bankruptcy. so that customers dont have to wait 2 years to even find out if they are gonna get 1penny

[virtfund]

I'm not a huge fan of Coinbase. Plenty of people have been having problems with it for me to take my business elsewhere. Coin.mx seems like a good alternative, though.

[keithers]

That is good to hear that they are insured, however the insurance that most people would be interested in is the one factor that looks like it isn't covered (if someone gets your log ins and is able to withdraw funds)...

[franky1]

That is good to hear that they are insured, however the insurance that most people would be interested in is the one factor that looks like it isn't covered (if someone gets your log ins and is able to withdraw funds)...

imagine how many people will claim they were hacked just to get free money..
chargeback scammers are ripe in the community and that is always their excuse

[rz20]

That is good to hear that they are insured, however the insurance that most people would be interested in is the one factor that looks like it isn't covered (if someone gets your log ins and is able to withdraw funds)...

What this insurance covers is if any workers steal a private key it would be covered.

[BitCoinDream]

http://blog.coinbase.com/post/95927658922/coinbase-insured

The insurance covers losses due to breaches in physical or cyber security, accidental loss, and employee theft.  It doesn’t cover bitcoin lost or stolen as a result of an individual user’s negligence to maintain secure control over their login credentials.

They are insured, NOT their customers. I have made the exit strategy bold. Moreover, what would happen for an address collision is not clear.

[cypherdoc]

Why is twobitidiot on Twitter claiming this only applies to hot wallet?

[QuestionAuthority]

Why is twobitidiot on Twitter claiming this only applies to hot wallet?

You typed out his name and you have to ask? lol

[haploid23]

They are insured, NOT their customers. I have made the exit strategy bold. Moreover, what would happen for an address collision is not clear.

When does ANY exchange insure lost bitcoins for an individual's own negligence? If they do insure these types of lost btc, then it's open for a lot of abuse. It's the equivalent of a chargeback.

[wasserman99]

That is good to hear that they are insured, however the insurance that most people would be interested in is the one factor that looks like it isn't covered (if someone gets your log ins and is able to withdraw funds)...

imagine how many people will claim they were hacked just to get free money..
chargeback scammers are ripe in the community and that is always their excuse

I would imagine that the insurance only covers their losses, not the losses of their customers. The insurance would likely only payout if they followed verifiable security policies that would prevent the vast majorities of possible thefts.

Any insurance company that would payout any kind of insurance claim solely because the insured claims to be a victim would be horrible at managing risk. 

[DannyHamilton]

Moreover, what would happen for an address collision is not clear.

It's also not clear what would happen if aliens from outer space land on the White House front lawn and use advanced mind reading technology to grab the userIDs and passwords of all Coinbase users and steal all of their bitcoins.

[cccarnation]

Getting insurance is good, getting paid out on it is another thing entirely.
Either way, good step!