Coinbase - Funded by Paul Graham

[bbit]

Coinbase just got funding from Paul Graham    thoughts on this ?

Bitcointalk Press area: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=90776.0

[Bitcoin Oz]

I think Paul Graham caused the recent price spike 

[bbit]

I think Paul Graham caused the recent price spike 

I think you could be right about this someone like him could easily move it! 

[Raoul Duke]

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4178255

We're storing wallets in the cloud so this is an important concern.

No, thank you. I'll pass.

[Bitcoin Oz]

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4178255

We're storing wallets in the cloud so this is an important concern.

No, thank you. I'll pass.

I also wonder about chargebacks if they link to bank accounts..

[bbit]

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4178255

We're storing wallets in the cloud so this is an important concern.

No, thank you. I'll pass.

I also wonder about chargebacks if they link to bank accounts..

^^ Was just wondering the same thing  - also, I wonder for how much was put in?
So far, he has raised $164,000.

[Raoul Duke]

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4178255

We're storing wallets in the cloud so this is an important concern.

No, thank you. I'll pass.

I also wonder about chargebacks if they link to bank accounts..

They'll just conclude sooner or later that they'll need to charge more than 0,5% to cover for fraud

[Bitcoin Oz]

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4178255

We're storing wallets in the cloud so this is an important concern.

No, thank you. I'll pass.

I also wonder about chargebacks if they link to bank accounts..

^^ Was just wondering the same thing  - also, I wonder for how much was put in?
So far, he has raised $164,000.

Theres a $100 000 buy order at btc-e.com

[bbit]

Theres a $100 000 buy order at btc-e.com

Good lord! Lol 

[bitstarter]

Theres a $100 000 buy order at btc-e.com

Good lord! Lol 

Glad to hear this no doubt PG is a good person to have on Bitcoins side.

[Raoul Duke]

Theres a $100 000 buy order at btc-e.com

Good lord! Lol 

$85k at $6.55

[Clipse]

Dwolla 2.0 activated.

re buy order, WOW, I wonder if thats not a calculated risk taken by the admin to get users to deposit funds onto exchange and then wipe that order lol

[brian_armstrong]

Hello everyone, I'm working on Coinbase (and created Bitcoin Android last year).

You're right Paul Graham is a good person to have backing Bitcoin, and I'm hoping to bring in some more support from other Silicon Valley VCs.  0.5% isn't too bad (Paypal's fraud rate is less than this) but it's still super early stage so I don't want to make any assumptions too early.

Anyway, there are still lots of unanswered questions on the site about security etc (I am taking lots of notes and have chatted with about 100 users today during the launch).  I hope to provide more info soon.  If you have any feedback/questions feel free to email me (brian at coinbase) and I'll do my best to answer promptly.

[Bitcoin Oz]

Hello everyone, I'm working on Coinbase (and created Bitcoin Android last year).

You're right Paul Graham is a good person to have backing Bitcoin, and I'm hoping to bring in some more support from other Silicon Valley VCs.  0.5% isn't too bad (Paypal's fraud rate is less than this) but it's still super early stage so I don't want to make any assumptions too early.

Anyway, there are still lots of unanswered questions on the site about security etc (I am taking lots of notes and have chatted with about 100 users today during the launch).  I hope to provide more info soon.  If you have any feedback/questions feel free to email me (brian at coinbase) and I'll do my best to answer promptly.

You should get a  bitcoin security professional like Vladamir on board. Also setup cold storage for the coins you dont need to have in a hot wallet to run the site. And get a dedicated server in a locked cage

Edit: and dont keep your backups on the same server your site is on.

[bitstarter]

You should get a  bitcoin security professional like Vladamir on board. Also setup cold storage for the coins you dont need to have in a hot wallet to run the site. And get a dedicated server in a locked cage

Edit: and dont keep your backups on the same server your site is on.

Vladamir is some serious security backing behind him get him on board make us all feel good.

edit: oh and welcome Brian was just chatting w/ you thanks for taking the time to chat with us!

[Spekulatius]

@ Brian,

Hi, could you please shed some light on this:

- Why should I use coinbase over bitcoin directly?
   - in that relation: Why would I lay the fate of my funds into your hands, where they can be stolen, frozen, lost, delayed... any time?

- What fees apply to use your services?

- Do I need to have a coinbase account to receive/send payments with you? Do you also send to BTC adresses?


Thx

[dacoinminster]

How many times have you used the "chat" feature on a website and got to chat with the CEO?

That was a first for me. It was very fun, but probably won't ever happen again.

Brian is awesome, and seeing some VCs finally doing something with bitcoin is even more awesome.

Brian: Congratulations! And please let me know what you think of those links I sent

[bitstarter]

How many times have you used the "chat" feature on a website and got to chat with the CEO?

That was a first for me. It was very fun, but probably won't ever happen again.

Brian is awesome, and seeing some VCs finally doing something with bitcoin is even more awesome.

Brian: Congratulations! And please let me know what you think of those links I sent

I couldn't agree more its really, really neat to be able to do that ...thanks Brian for doing that! 

[dacoinminster]

Why should I use coinbase over bitcoin directly?

I think the question Brian is trying answer is "Why should my Grandma use coinbase over bitcoin directly?"

If he can provide real security and convenience, he'll be able to give Grandma something she'll never get from the bitcoin client installed on a PC. Sometimes we forget what a tiny percentage of the world's population are hackers and security experts.

[evoorhees]

You should get a  bitcoin security professional like Vladamir on board.

+100

[R-]

In the end, he paid one Bitcoin for one beer — roughly $6.50 for a beer that normally costs less than five dollars (without a tip).

Brian has his priorities straight. He (and Coinbase) has my vote.

[brian_armstrong]

@ Brian,

Hi, could you please shed some light on this:

- Why should I use coinbase over bitcoin directly?
   - in that relation: Why would I lay the fate of my funds into your hands, where they can be stolen, frozen, lost, delayed... any time?

- What fees apply to use your services?

- Do I need to have a coinbase account to receive/send payments with you? Do you also send to BTC adresses?


Thx

Sure, good questions:

1. I definitely wouldn't ask anyone to trust me with their funds at the moment.  Especially if you are tech savvy and confortable with the existing tools out there.  As a technical user myself, I find them to be quite good and trustworthy.  Coinbase is built more for the mass market (think your mother), and non technical people.  We're making a long term bet that for bitcoin to go mainstream, regular consumers will need an easy cloud solution like this, and we'd like to be that trusted offering.  But while we're still in beta I wouldn't recommend anyone keep larges balances there.  By all means feel free to try it out with a few cents if you want to though, we could use the feedback.

2. 0.5% to exchange into/out of bitcoin (once we launch bank integration) is the current plan.  Once you have bitcoins transactions are free.

3. No, you can still send to BTC addresses on coinbase (everything is using bitcoin underneath).  We just don't default to using addresses in most of the UI since I think non technical users find them confusing/intimidating, so we usually show emails instead as what you're sending to.

[brian_armstrong]

You should get a  bitcoin security professional like Vladamir on board. Also setup cold storage for the coins you dont need to have in a hot wallet to run the site. And get a dedicated server in a locked cage

Edit: and dont keep your backups on the same server your site is on.

Vladamir is some serious security backing behind him get him on board make us all feel good.

edit: oh and welcome Brian was just chatting w/ you thanks for taking the time to chat with us!

Would love to chat with him, how can I get in touch with Vladamir?  Anyone have a link to his profile? 

[proudhon]

2. 0.5% to exchange into/out of bitcoin (once we launch bank integration) is the current plan.  Once you have bitcoins transactions are free.

So, in this respect Coinbase will be operating as an exchange, like MtGox?  Do I understand you correctly?

[Bitcoin Oz]

You should get a  bitcoin security professional like Vladamir on board. Also setup cold storage for the coins you dont need to have in a hot wallet to run the site. And get a dedicated server in a locked cage

Edit: and dont keep your backups on the same server your site is on.

Vladamir is some serious security backing behind him get him on board make us all feel good.

edit: oh and welcome Brian was just chatting w/ you thanks for taking the time to chat with us!

Would love to chat with him, how can I get in touch with Vladamir?  Anyone have a link to his profile? 

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=3380   thanks for taking advice Brian

[bitlizard]

@ brain armstrong

"We're making a long term bet that for bitcoin to go mainstream, regular consumers will need an easy cloud solution like this, and we'd like to be that trusted offering."

How do you define 'mainstream'? do you define it in terms of market capitalization or user base or both?

Does ycombinator have any plans beyond coinbase to to facilitate mainstream adoption?

[hazek]

2. 0.5% to exchange into/out of bitcoin (once we launch bank integration) is the current plan.  Once you have bitcoins transactions are free.

So, in this respect Coinbase will be operating as an exchange, like MtGox?  Do I understand you correctly?

No.. He is saying they want to operate as does Paypal on top of the traditional banking system. Coinbase users will be able to fill up their "bitcoin" balance with either bitcoins or another currency and then they'd hold only representations of bitcoins which they could send to each other for free or send outside of Coinbase to an actual Bitcoin address for a 0.5% fee. I might have misunderstood about the fee part but the rest I'm pretty sure off.

It's what paypal does but for bitcoin.. which I believe is the expected natural progression that layers on top of Bitcoin will take.

[Bitcoin Oz]

2. 0.5% to exchange into/out of bitcoin (once we launch bank integration) is the current plan.  Once you have bitcoins transactions are free.

So, in this respect Coinbase will be operating as an exchange, like MtGox?  Do I understand you correctly?

No.. He is saying they want to operate as does Paypal on top of the traditional banking system. Coinbase users will be able to fill up their "bitcoin" balance with either bitcoins or another currency and then they'd hold only representations of bitcoins which they could send to each other for free or send outside of Coinbase to an actual Bitcoin address for a 0.5% fee. I might have misunderstood about the fee part but the rest I'm pretty sure off.

It's what paypal does but for bitcoin..

It makes sense to create an internal database coin.

[hazek]

Right, and they simplify the use by offering sending stuff around between their users by simply using an email (like paypal).

[Bitcoin Oz]

Right, and they simplify the use by offering sending stuff around between their users by simply using an email (like paypal).

Plus you can keep coins off the actual site unless depositing or withdrawing, which can be stored on a different server altogether.

[brian_armstrong]

2. 0.5% to exchange into/out of bitcoin (once we launch bank integration) is the current plan.  Once you have bitcoins transactions are free.

So, in this respect Coinbase will be operating as an exchange, like MtGox?  Do I understand you correctly?

You could say that, but I don't think users will think of it as an exchange.  The focus will be on easy payments, and one side benefit of the site will be easy adding/withdrawing of bitcoins to their bank account.  At least that is how I imagine it

[brian_armstrong]

You should get a  bitcoin security professional like Vladamir on board. Also setup cold storage for the coins you dont need to have in a hot wallet to run the site. And get a dedicated server in a locked cage

Edit: and dont keep your backups on the same server your site is on.

Vladamir is some serious security backing behind him get him on board make us all feel good.

edit: oh and welcome Brian was just chatting w/ you thanks for taking the time to chat with us!

Would love to chat with him, how can I get in touch with Vladamir?  Anyone have a link to his profile? 

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=3380   thanks for taking advice Brian

Messaged!  Would love to get his experience/advice.

[brian_armstrong]

@ brain armstrong

"We're making a long term bet that for bitcoin to go mainstream, regular consumers will need an easy cloud solution like this, and we'd like to be that trusted offering."

How do you define 'mainstream'? do you define it in terms of market capitalization or user base or both?

Does ycombinator have any plans beyond coinbase to to facilitate mainstream adoption?

When I say mainstream I mean non-technical users.  (Bitcoin still feels too nerdy to me.  And by the way, I consider myself a nerd!)

[Spekulatius]

Hmm, I dont like paypal for a number of reasons, especially for their power over users funds and the despotic and in many cases unnecessary use of that power.

@ Brian:

- How are you trying to avoid bad service like paypal (if at all)?

- You have mentioned, the advantage of coinbase use over bitcoin use by the simplicity of its user experience. What will you do once the available bitcoin clients catch up?

- Concerning the exchange topic: Will I be able to fund my coinbase account with currency XY and withdraw currency YZ from it?

[BitLucky]

isn't this the same as Flexcoin?

[bbit]

isn't this the same as Flexcoin?

Now that you mention it...it sort of does seem like flexcoin.

[blksith0]

I gave them all my bank account information. Seems legit.

edit: and yeah, 5 days later, got my coins. Nice.

[bg002h]

Works for me...2 factor auth. They deposit to your bank to verify.

[gadsdengraphics]

Necro thread - but hey, I actually came here today to see if Coinbase's reputation was holding up.

[bbit]

Necro thread - but hey, I actually came here today to see if Coinbase's reputation was holding up.

It is , it is ..I always use them! 

[blksith0]

So why does this site not have an open market like other sites have?
Although it was simple to use, so that makes up for it.

[constitution]

Whats coinbase? tell me its no another Bitcoin copy..

[Desolator]

No, it's a bitpay copy with a prettier but much more vague landing page.

[dacoinminster]

My first bitcoin purchase through coinbase just completed today. Very nice.

[redbeans2012]

My first bitcoin purchase through coinbase just completed today. Very nice.

I just made a purchase the other day for the first time on coinbase.  Waiting for the coins now.  First time I bought coins in years.  Seems pretty cool though.

[bg002h]

It's pretty slick.

[StarfishPrime]

Coinbase is a great place to point new bitcoin users to start buying/using bitcoin. The "paypal-like" concept where you can send bitcoins to anyone with an email address makes it pretty easy to get started without having to grasp any of the underlying technology or deal with long addresses (also supported of course).

Also, they maintain a large % of bitcoin balance in off-line/off-site storage (electronic media and paper, printed keys) - safe even from Kim Jong Un and his rogue EMPs

[Herodes]

Legit complaint or nefarious attack ?

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/17qrlq/why_i_cant_recommend_coinbase_to_anyone/

[bbit]

Legit complaint or nefarious attack ?

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/17qrlq/why_i_cant_recommend_coinbase_to_anyone/

I think an attack! 

[dust]

Has anyone confirmed that the Coinbase iPhone app is legitimate?  I see no mention of it on the Coinbase blog.

[shwackd]

Coinbase is a giant scam. Please do not do business with them. I just tried to buy .5 BTC and they au tomatically cancelled the buy and sent this stupid e-mail explaining that it was a "high risk" transaction and that they "decided" not to send me any BTC and that they would refund me in 3 or 4 business days. They basically just stole my money for 3 or 4 days.  COMPLETE scam.

what makes it worse is that I reached out to customer support who assured me they had fixed my account and that I could go ahead and try the purchase again.... guess what? they cancelled it again!   Now they have over $1,000 of my money for 3 or 4 days and I get nothing... This is criminal and they should be shut down for pulling crap like this.

[BitCoinDream]

AFAIK CoinBase is going to face multiple lawsuits soon. More reports are coming about them for alleged scam involvement. Here is one example => https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=341188.0

[shwackd]

they resopnded to me saying they "whitelisted" my account and it would never happen again... lol... that is the resopnse I got from the first customer support agent..and it fixed nothing.  I will not be attemtping 4 purchases through this obvious scam.... I will stop at 3 attempts.   I will take my business elsewhere.

[Nerazzura]

I think Paul Graham caused the recent price spike 

I think you could be right about this someone like him could easily move it! 

yes, who is paul graham? if he had any relationship with mr. satoshi, and what he may Think when doing so. nevertheless, he gave a great influence for bitcoin

[DannyElfman]

Coinbase is a giant scam. Please do not do business with them. I just tried to buy .5 BTC and they au tomatically cancelled the buy and sent this stupid e-mail explaining that it was a "high risk" transaction and that they "decided" not to send me any BTC and that they would refund me in 3 or 4 business days. They basically just stole my money for 3 or 4 days.  COMPLETE scam.

what makes it worse is that I reached out to customer support who assured me they had fixed my account and that I could go ahead and try the purchase again.... guess what? they cancelled it again!   Now they have over $1,000 of my money for 3 or 4 days and I get nothing... This is criminal and they should be shut down for pulling crap like this.

They are taking on a extreme amount of risk as generally speaking you can reverse ACH and credit card transactions while you cannot reverse bitcoin transactions. Coinbase needs to carefully screen it's customers when they buy from them as they likely get scammed often

[jabo38]

It has always worked really well for me and everybody else I know that used it, though I don't know many.

[cbeast]

I'm waiting for the 51% attack, where they sell 51% ownership to a big bank.

[leezay]

Coinbase is a giant scam. Please do not do business with them. I just tried to buy .5 BTC and they au tomatically cancelled the buy and sent this stupid e-mail explaining that it was a "high risk" transaction and that they "decided" not to send me any BTC and that they would refund me in 3 or 4 business days. They basically just stole my money for 3 or 4 days.  COMPLETE scam.

what makes it worse is that I reached out to customer support who assured me they had fixed my account and that I could go ahead and try the purchase again.... guess what? they cancelled it again!   Now they have over $1,000 of my money for 3 or 4 days and I get nothing... This is criminal and they should be shut down for pulling crap like this.

They are taking on a extreme amount of risk as generally speaking you can reverse ACH and credit card transactions while you cannot reverse bitcoin transactions. Coinbase needs to carefully screen it's customers when they buy from them as they likely get scammed often

It is hard to reverse ACH transfer.

[DannyElfman]

Coinbase is a giant scam. Please do not do business with them. I just tried to buy .5 BTC and they au tomatically cancelled the buy and sent this stupid e-mail explaining that it was a "high risk" transaction and that they "decided" not to send me any BTC and that they would refund me in 3 or 4 business days. They basically just stole my money for 3 or 4 days.  COMPLETE scam.

what makes it worse is that I reached out to customer support who assured me they had fixed my account and that I could go ahead and try the purchase again.... guess what? they cancelled it again!   Now they have over $1,000 of my money for 3 or 4 days and I get nothing... This is criminal and they should be shut down for pulling crap like this.

They are taking on a extreme amount of risk as generally speaking you can reverse ACH and credit card transactions while you cannot reverse bitcoin transactions. Coinbase needs to carefully screen it's customers when they buy from them as they likely get scammed often

It is hard to reverse ACH transfer.

You could claim the ACH was unauthorized. You could put a stop payment on the transfer. There could be insufficient funds in the account that the ACH is withdrawing from.

[HappyWhiteHuman]

Coinbase Enables Cryptocurrency Gift Cards in Europe and Australia

Cryptocurrency exchange giant Coinbase has struck a new partnership to enable customers in Europe and Australia spend their cryptocurrency at major retailers and services including Nike and Uber.

Coinbase is partnering WeGift, a London-based FinTech startup for the new service which allows its users to fundamentally withdraw their cryptocurrency into gift cards that can be used at over 120 retailers including Uber, Amazon and Tesco, among others.

The upside, WeGift explains on its website, is zero swap fees alongside an average bonus of 5% in gift card value after converting crypto from the user’s Coinbase account. ‘Customers purchasing an e-gift card will enjoy zero Coinbase withdrawal fees and bonuses on select e-gifts,’ Coinbase UK CEO Zeeshan Feroz said in an announcement.
https://www.ccn.com/coinbase-enables-cryptocurrency-gift-cards-in-europe-and-australia/

[micle222]

That's good news that can raise the price of Cryptocurrency, especially for Bitcoin because of the recent decline in prices.

Maybe I understand Paul Graham but the rest I will support it.
Now also I immediately see the Bitcoin chart on Bitfinex, whether Bitcoin will be green because it gets news like that.

[TobMarshall]

The support of this Paul Graham is of great note, it's nice having bigger investor help the crypto community which will further strengthen it. But I hope coin base is not a scam I hear people say their money got stuck and have not been released or re-funded at the specified date. More findings needs to be done.

[Daltonik]

Coinbase is going to launch a service to transfer wages into cryptocurrency. To do this, the American bitcoin exchange will establish cooperation with the main players in the field of recruiting and settlement companies.