SAN FRANCISCO — In a case testing the government's ability to unmask individuals who do business in cryptocurrency, San Francisco digital
currency company Coinbase Inc. is challenging an IRS request for information about customers.
«Unregulated, unregistered exchanges are a very big concern for the industry and the community broadly,» said Kathryn Haun, a former federal prosecutor who is on the board of the U.S. virtual
currency company Coinbase.
Not exact matches
Digital
currency wallet
Coinbase is among the
companies that use Metropolitan for wire transfers, deposits, and its Shift bitcoin debit card.
In addition, a section of the
company's terms of service (titled «forked protocols) clearly state
Coinbase has the discretion whether to support any changes to the software that underlies digital
currency like bitcoin.
While the decision to support Bitcoin Cash may placate some
Coinbase customers, others are likely to question why the
company will take months to do so, even as other digital exchanges support the new
currency.
To take just one example of how political things got: the highly - valued cryptocurrency exchange
Coinbase saw users flee in response to the
company's decision not to host the new
currency, bitcoin cash.
According to the statement, the DFS has approved virtual
currency charters or licenses to only five firms so far:
Coinbase, XRP II (an affiliate of Ripple), Circle, Gemini Trust
Company, and itBit Trust
Company, LLC.
Litecoin's value jumped dramatically when digital
currency exchange
company Coinbase added it to its trading platform in May 2017.
His experience will add breadth and depth to the
Coinbase board and will help the leadership team as the
company focuses on becoming the most popular, and safest place to buy and sell digital
currencies.
The ongoing dispute over an attempt by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to issue a «John Doe» summons on
Coinbase, a
company which facilitates transactions of digital
currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, continues to play out in court.
The department has so far issued virtual
currency charters to six firms, including bitFlyer USA,
Coinbase Inc., XRP II and Circle Internet Financial, and charters to Gemini Trust
Company and itBit Trust
Company.
«
Coinbase was founded in 2012 and has grown to become one the world's leading digital
currency companies with support for Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin in 32 countries.
If you're unfamiliar with
Coinbase, the
company offers a consumer - friendly way to hold and spend the
currency using an email addresses, while also giving people a way to trade dollars for small amounts of bitcoins (current price: $ 855) without using an overseas exchange.
[David Marcus»] experience will add breadth and depth to the
Coinbase board and will help the leadership team as the
company focuses on becoming the most popular and safest place to buy and sell digital
currencies.
New York's DFS has approved virtual
currency licenses for bitFlyer USA,
Coinbase Inc., XRP II and Circle Internet Financial, plus digital charters for Gemini Trust
Company and itBit Trust
Company.
People have exchanged more than $ 5 billion in digital and regular
currencies through
Coinbase to date, the
company says.
Now that
Coinbase has made it relatively easy for much of the world to purchase bitcoins online, the
company wants to provide its users with various products and services that take advantage of the digital
currency's unique efficiency offerings.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong discusses his
company's new service for purchasing digital
currencies.
In addition, a section of the
company's terms of service (titled «forked protocols) clearly state
Coinbase has the discretion whether to support any changes to the software that underlies digital
currency like bitcoin.
Coinbase has clearly stated the
company is not taking customers» Bitcoin Cash for themselves, but its decision to withhold the new
currency has led one prominent legal scholar to suggest the
company will be sued.
While the decision to support Bitcoin Cash may placate some
Coinbase customers, others are likely to question why the
company will take months to do so, even as other digital exchanges support the new
currency.
The
company may be able to boost its revenue through its new merchant platform,
Coinbase Commerce, which enables vendors to accept digital
currency payments — and if more merchants are using digital
currencies, the trading price of those
currencies may go up as well.
That meteoric rise is thanks to Brian Armstrong,
Coinbase's CEO, who has ridden the passion for alternative
currencies to build a
company that this year was valued in a new financing round at $ 1.6 billion — the first blockchain - related
company to reach unicorn status.
For instance, CoinDesk is owned by Digital
Currency Group (DCG) who in turn has funded 80 - odd
companies over the last few years, including about 10 mentioned in this article (such as
Coinbase and BTC China).
While
Coinbase was founded as a platform to transact only with Bitcoin, the
company has since announced its intent to add other cryptocurrencies with the broader goal of becoming a «digital
currency company.»
Initially, the
company decided to launch its bitcoin exchange to nine of the provinces in Canada, as their blog post reads: «Users in all Canadian provinces will have the ability to buy and sell bitcoin with CAD using the
Coinbase Wallet, and those in 9 of 10 Canadian provinces can begin trading on
Coinbase Exchange using the BTC / CAD
currency pair.»
That means
companies like
Coinbase or Gemini, which serve as marketplaces and exchanges for virtual
currencies, and advertisers promoting an ICO or encouraging the purchase of a particular cryptocurrency, are effectively shut out of 70 percent of the world's digital ad market.
If you keep your
currency on an exchange like
Coinbase or Bitstamp, the
company holds the private key to the wallet where your coins are stored.
Popular digital
currency exchange
Coinbase has made significant inroads into Europe after the United Kingdom's financial regulator approved the
company's e-money license.
Fifty
companies are included in Bitcoin.org's warning, including Bitcoin.com, bitFlyer, Bitfury, Bitmain, BitPay, Blockchain, BTC.com, BTCC, BTC.TOP, Circle,
Coinbase, Digital
Currency Group, Genesis Global Trading, Genesis Mining, Jaxx, ViaBTC and Xapo, among others.
Essentially the bank of bitcoin,
Coinbase is an exchange
company based in northern California transacting traditional
currency into bitcoin.
The amount of digital
currency Coinbase has exchanged has reached $ 40 billion USD, according to the
company's website.
It's also worth noting that
Coinbase has many trustworthy investors backing the
company, including Digital
Currency Group, Blockchain Capital, Bank of Tokyo, and Alexis Ohanian (Reddit Co-Founder).
What's keeping Ripple's digital
currency XRP off Gemini and
Coinbase is the fact that the
company is centralized — despite repeated claims that it works with decentralized technology.
And as digital
currency regulation advances, and assuming the integration goes smoothly with
Coinbase's platform, the remittance
company will be in a strong position to bridge the gap between incumbent financial services and alternative stores of value.
Digital
currency exchange
Coinbase has blamed bank and credit card
company meddling for a recent spate of erroneous charges against customer accounts, an allegation rejected by Visa.
Coinbase announced its insurance broker last month and Great American Insurance Group recently began offering crime insurance coverage to
companies that handle digital
currency.
Digital
currency exchange
Coinbase responded this afternoon to a report from The Verge regarding rampant overcharging of users and unauthorized withdrawals from their accounts, saying in a statement that the
company has «identified a solution» to the problem.
Later this summer, the
company will add support for the digital
currency to all
Coinbase users.
With more
companies like
Coinbase popping up on the daily, it is no wonder that these
currencies are rising dramatically in popularity.
This particular issue only compounds recent problems at
Coinbase, a San Francisco - based
company and one of the world's most popular digital
currency exchanges.