As a regulatory crackdown threatens the biggest U.S. crypto exchange, longtime critic DavidZMorris reflects on the one big thing Coinbase got right: not stealing from customers. Opinion for The Node newsletter
In short, whatever the missteps as Coinbase found its way, Brian Armstrong never stole from me. That should be a very low bar, but apparently not. I was busy demanding Coinbase become an exemplary company when it seems I should have settled for being able to trust it with a tiny sliver of my assets.
Now, though, Coinbase looks a little bit more like its less-trustworthy competition. So far, its offshore leverage trading offering seems nominal at best – Coinbase International Exchange doesn’t even have an app or website, operating strictly. That could be the foundation for a more robust product, or it might just be the bare minimum required to make a theatrical political statement.
It’s unclear whether Coinbase’s international ambitions extend beyond that rhetorical threat. As a customer, I hope not. There’s little real chance it will shut down U.S. services, but simply adding a less-regulated and more-volatile international product will in and of itself harm the trustworthiness that makes Coinbase’s higher fees worth paying for users like me.
That’s because there is, inevitably, shared risk between the U.S. Coinbase product and the new international offering. Those new risks for Coinbase U.S. users include both financial stability and, ironically, regulatory oversight. In a worst-case scenario, an international entity could become financially entangled with the U.S. entity in ways that make the whole more fragile.Coinbase Grew Quickly by Working With U.S. Regulators.
Still, the shadow of uncertainty looms larger. That’s not because Coinbase has chosen to betray my trust. It’s because Gary Gensler thinks he’s protecting me, when in fact he’s doing the exact opposite.
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