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Bitcoin

As Bitcoin Surges, Prominent Cryptocurrency Exchange Coinbase Aims To Go Public (cnn.com) 28

Cryptocurrency brokerage Coinbase said Thursday that it has filed a draft registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, paving the way for plans for an eventual initial public offering. CNN reports: The announcement comes as interest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has soared during the coronavirus pandemic. Investors have found such currencies attractive as the US dollar weakens. Bitcoin has been smashing its own price records and recently surpassed the symbolic $20,000-a-coin milestone. It has since continued to climb higher, and was last trading just shy of $23,000, according to data provider Refinitiv.

Coinbase was launched in 2012, according to its website, and "more than 35 million people in over 100 countries trust Coinbase to buy, sell, store, use and earn cryptocurrency." The company indicates it has more than $25 billion in assets on the platform and more than $320 billion in total volume traded.

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As Bitcoin Surges, Prominent Cryptocurrency Exchange Coinbase Aims To Go Public

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 18, 2020 @10:15PM (#60847088)
    NASDAQ has announced ticker symbol will be NSDQ:SCAM.
    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Nice!

    • NSDQ:SCAM.

      But that would be repeating itself.

      • by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Saturday December 19, 2020 @02:35AM (#60847558)

        The Slashdot consensus was that Bitcoin was a scam when it crossed the penny threshold.

        Since then, it has gone up 220000000%.

        If Bitcoins go to $100k and then drop back to $90k, I'm sure y'all will be here to say "See, we told you so!"

        • The Slashdot consensus was that Bitcoin was a scam when it crossed the penny threshold.
          Since then, it has gone up 220000000%.
          If Bitcoins go to $100k and then drop back to $90k, I'm sure y'all will be here to say "See, we told you so!"

          Who in their right mind would invest in Coinbase when you could invest in Bitcoin then? Can we expect this brokerage to outperform the growth of the "currency" it trades, how? Is its value also going to swing down 10% in the future with no discernible reason?

  • But if they did it would be cool if they paid it in BTC.
  • Bitcoin (Score:4, Insightful)

    by beep54 ( 1844432 ) <b54oramaster&gmail,com> on Friday December 18, 2020 @11:07PM (#60847176)
    This stuff is wonderful if you love to gamble. Or if you into buying illegal things. Otherwise, it seems way too volatile.
  • Wut? (Score:1, Troll)

    Investors have found such currencies attractive as the US dollar weakens.

    What? Since when are Speculators, Drug dealers, Pedophiles, and failing Dictatorships considered "Investors?" And why would the strength of the USD influence their desire to trade in BTC?

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Well, they may not be "investors", but they may be "customers". Somewhere.

      That said, there is nothing weaker than BTC. A strong currency has stability as a primary requirement. BTC is the very anti-thesis of stability.

      • The instability tends to be in the upward direction, so I am ok with it.

        • by gweihir ( 88907 )

          The instability tends to be in the upward direction, so I am ok with it.

          Good luck with that. Even if that were true (it is not), it still makes the "currency" exceptionally weak.

    • Re:Wut? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by rtb61 ( 674572 ) on Saturday December 19, 2020 @12:14AM (#60847310) Homepage

      No this is the reason the price went up, insider banksters manipulated the price to drive it up prior to IPO, sell everything on the IPO and bet the crash. Bitcoin investors are getting their legs spread ready for the massive kick in the goolies, ouch.

    • by 1s44c ( 552956 )

      Anyone that buys anything with the hope that it will be valuable in the future is an investor.

      • by glitch! ( 57276 )

        Anyone that buys anything with the hope that it will be valuable in the future is an investor.

        I would say that person would be a speculator, not an investor. Nothing wrong with that. An investor hopes that it will be PROFITABLE. The word "valuable" is slippery, and can easily include "selling to a greater fool". Your point is good, though.

    • Sounds like you're upset that you missed an opportunity.
  • by Jodka ( 520060 ) on Saturday December 19, 2020 @02:38AM (#60847566)

    Coinbase profits are limited by commissions and any fee for trading a currency will be very elastic; brokerages don't have much room to jack up profits by raising prices without driving away customers to competing brokerages with lower prices. Highly competitive market means low margins means low profits. Outside of that, any value in the company which depends on its owning bitcoins is highly volatile and risky.

    This looks like Coinbase is playing on the name and growth reputation of Bitcoin but won't be a wise investment itself. I don't see why Coinbase would a better investment than alternatives. If you have a high risk tolerance, why not buy Bitcoin or some other cryptocurrency, instead of the brokerage which trades it? If you have low risk tolerance, why not buy something diversified like an ETF? Just not seeing the risk reward argument here or buying shares of a brokerage.

    • by Kaenneth ( 82978 )

      Because a brokerage makes money if the asset goes up OR down; it's betting that Bitcoin and friends will stay volatile.

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  • Do you invest in Dollars, or Euros, or Pound Sterling ?

    Only idiots hold currencies any longer than required. Hell, all big trades for any real product are invariably immediately arbitraged against at least one other currency for good reason. Currencies are intrinsically without value, and so extremely volatile.

    Only idiots think investment in BitCoin is a good idea.

    • by 1s44c ( 552956 )

      National governments 'invest' in Dollars, Euros, and Pounds all the time. They call it 'foreign currency reserves'.

      It is absolutely untrue that "only idiots hold currencies any longer than required". See what Warren Buffet says about holding a few billion in Dollars instead of investing it all.

      Those people you are calling idiots for investing in BitCoin either believed in government free cash, made a ton of government cash, or both. You can should "idiot" at them buy they won't hear you over the engine soun

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