Coinbase goes as far as publishing the exact identification numbers of all the short term US treasuries they hold that back the USDC they emitted. They say they're held in custody at BNY Mellon (IIRC). It would be quite the lie if that wasn't true and I'm pretty sure many people are now carefully looking into these affirmation / proof of reserves / etc.
Coinbase also always had exorbitant fees compared to other exchanges (but who's looking "smart" now, those who paid the huge fees at Coinbase or those who were paying 0.000001% / operation at FTX and are now fucked?), which at least make it sound like making money on actual fees was their business model.
Now: Coinbase is leaking money by having revenues which fell and running costs through the roof.
But, in the short term, if FTX is gone and if Binance goes, Coinbase becomes number one. They're already number two and it's very likely that Coinbase's volume is real (contrarily to Binance).
Coinbase is a HN unicorn, US incorporated. The people behind it are known.
They may be behind a huge scam but somehow I don't think so.
Also I do really wonder: now that rates have gone up, they've got $53 bn actual USD bringing it a significant amount of money. Where's that money going? For a start they're not giving the yeld to people storing USDC in their own private wallet in a "your key / your coins" style. What about the USDC held at Coinbase for customers? Do they give yeld on that?
$53 bn or so is a lot of money with 4 to 5% yeld or something...
Doesn't the other poster's claim that the "Entire financial space" is corrupt and that "For every FTX or Binance there's an Enron or Deutch Bank ten times the size and just as villainous" undermine the claim that BNY Mellon is trustworthy?
I agree that USAA is a rare exception, but do you really trust BNY Mellon if the "Entire financial space" is corrupt, or is that just whataboutism that ignores the outrageously unprecedented and shill-droid-automated degree of unregulated untraceable corruption in the crypto space?
If you believe Coinbase is as rare and trustworthy an exception as USAA, then I've got some Trump NFT's to sell you!
Coinbase also always had exorbitant fees compared to other exchanges (but who's looking "smart" now, those who paid the huge fees at Coinbase or those who were paying 0.000001% / operation at FTX and are now fucked?), which at least make it sound like making money on actual fees was their business model.
Now: Coinbase is leaking money by having revenues which fell and running costs through the roof.
But, in the short term, if FTX is gone and if Binance goes, Coinbase becomes number one. They're already number two and it's very likely that Coinbase's volume is real (contrarily to Binance).
Coinbase is a HN unicorn, US incorporated. The people behind it are known.
They may be behind a huge scam but somehow I don't think so.
Also I do really wonder: now that rates have gone up, they've got $53 bn actual USD bringing it a significant amount of money. Where's that money going? For a start they're not giving the yeld to people storing USDC in their own private wallet in a "your key / your coins" style. What about the USDC held at Coinbase for customers? Do they give yeld on that?
$53 bn or so is a lot of money with 4 to 5% yeld or something...