Around the Block #6: Bitcoin’s dominance alongside Coinbase customer behavior, the coming DEX revolution, and other recent crypto newsCoinbase Around the Block, sheds light on key issues in the crypto space. In this edition, Justin Mart analyzes Bitcoin’s continued dominance alongside Coinbase customer behavior, the coming DEX Revolution, as well as other notable news in the space.Bitcoin’s dominance and Coinbase customer behaviorBitcoin’s market cap dominance relative to other cryptocurrencies is well known. The most commonly cited metric is relative market capitalization, comparing Bitcoin’s network value to other cryptos.But how does Bitcoin’s dominance extend beyond market cap? Specifically, how does Coinbase customer behavior also demonstrate Bitcoin’s dominance? First, let’s take a look at Bitcoin’s market cap dominance over the years:In general, Bitcoin’s position as the … [Read More...]
Around the Block #3: bZx Attack Update, DeFi Vulnerabilities, and the State of Debit Cards in…
Around the Block #3: Analysis on the bZx Attack, DeFi Vulnerabilities, The State of Debit Cards in Crypto, and Other Crypto NewsCoinbase Around the Block sheds light on key issues in the crypto space. In this edition, we analyze the bZx attack, uncover some of DeFi’s vulnerabilities, and discuss the state of debit cards in crypto. We also include commentary on notable news stories, with additional curated news posts from the last few weeks.Analysis on the bZx Attack and DeFi VulnerabilitiesDeFi is bringing financial tools onto the internet in a way that makes them accessible, programmable, and useful for everyone. Just how the internet made it easy for anyone to create, share, and program information, DeFi is doing the same for money and finance.DeFi products … [Read More...]
Around the Block: Analysis on the bZx Attack, DeFi Vulnerabilities, The State of Debit Cards in…
Around the Block: Analysis on the bZx Attack, DeFi Vulnerabilities, The State of Debit Cards in Crypto, and Other Crypto NewsCoinbase Around the Block sheds light on key issues in the crypto space. In this edition, we analyze the bZx attack, uncover some of DeFi’s vulnerabilities, and discuss the state of debit cards in crypto. We also include commentary on notable news stories, with additional curated news posts from the last few weeks.Analysis on the bZx Attack and DeFi VulnerabilitiesDeFi is bringing financial tools onto the internet in a way that makes them accessible, programmable, and useful for everyone. Just how the internet made it easy for anyone to create, share, and program information, DeFi is doing the same for money and finance.DeFi products are … [Read More...]
Generalized Economic Abstraction
By Kevin BritzAt Astro Wallet, which was recently acquired by Coinbase, we spent the better part of the last two years researching economic abstraction in various forms. We’d like to share our findings with the greater blockchain industry in the hope that this may serve as a guide to solve many of the UX issues that decentralized applications face today.Though not a new concept, previously only a small subsection of economic abstraction use cases have been practically feasible. In this writeup we’ll discuss how to achieve a generalized implementation today.DefinitionWe’ve seen the term used loosely, so to start we’d like to give a specific definition.Economic Abstraction?—?The ability to pay for any blockchain transaction and resulting operation(s) with any asset on that blockchain … [Read More...]
Crypto giveaway scams and how to spot them
By Thomas Hauer, Jr.Cryptocurrency giveaway scams have been a problem for those involved in the crypto-community since the last major bull run in late 2017. Whether you’re a seasoned investor or just beginning to get your feet wet in the crypto-space, we encourage all of our customers to educate themselves on current cryptocurrency related scams and how to identify them. In this article, we’ll cover an increasingly common technique used by online scammers?—?the giveaway scam.In a nutshell, giveaway scams are a form of social engineering in which a scammer attempts to deceive a cryptocurrency investor into believing that a major cryptocurrency exchange or celebrity is hosting a giveaway. The catch here is that in order to participate in the giveaway, you must … [Read More...]
A Beginner’s Guide to Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
By Sid Coelho-PrabhuCryptocurrency’s promise is to make money and payments universally accessible– to anyone, no matter where they are in the world.The Decentralized Finance (DeFi) or Open Finance movement takes that promise a step further. Imagine a global, open alternative to every financial service you use today — savings, loans, trading, insurance and more — accessible to anyone in the world with a smartphone and internet connection.This is now possible on smart contract blockchains, like Ethereum. “Smart contractsâ€? are programs running on the blockchain that can execute automatically when certain conditions are met. These smart contracts enable developers to build far more sophisticated functionality than simply sending and receiving cryptocurrency. These programs are what we now call decentralized apps, or dapps.You can think of a dapp as … [Read More...]
A Beginner’s Guide to Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
By Sid Coelho-PrabhuCryptocurrency’s promise is to make money and payments universally accessible– to anyone, no matter where they are in the world.The Decentralized Finance (DeFi) or Open Finance movement takes that promise a step further. Imagine a global, open alternative to every financial service you use today?—?savings, loans, trading, insurance and more?—?accessible to anyone in the world with a smartphone and internet connection.This is now possible on smart contract blockchains, like Ethereum. “Smart contracts” are programs running on the blockchain that can execute automatically when certain conditions are met. These smart contracts enable developers to build far more sophisticated functionality than simply sending and receiving cryptocurrency. These programs are what we now call decentralized apps, or dapps.You can think … [Read More...]
How MakerDAO doubled its users in a single weekend using Coinbase Earn
By Kenzan BooOn July 26, 2019, Coinbase Earn launched the Dai Advanced Task. In a few days, users created more CDPs (Collateralized Debt Positions) than ever existed. In the previous 11 months, about 9,000 CDPs were created on the blockchain with MakerDAO. We chose to launch on a Friday. On the weekend after the Dai Advanced Task began, over 10,000 CDPs were created.In this blog, we explore how one of the biggest decentralized finance apps used Coinbase Earn to help grow its network so quickly. We’ll dive into some of the engineering and product challenges along the way and how we solved them.Coinbase Earn is a platform that connects the community of users with foundations like MakerDAO. The product allows users to earn cryptocurrencies while learning about them by watching … [Read More...]
Coinbase continues to explore support for new digital assets
We are continuing to explore the addition of new assets, and will be working with local banks and regulators to add them in as many jurisdictions as possible.As we announced in September, Coinbase’s goal is to offer support for all assets that meet our standards and are fully compliant with local law. Over time, we intend to offer our customers access to greater than 90% of all compliant digital assets by market cap. To make this vision a reality, we evaluate prospective assets against our Digital Asset Framework to assess factors like security, compliance, and the project’s alignment with our mission of creating an open financial system for the world.Digital assets that Coinbase is exploringTowards that end, Coinbase is exploring a broad range of assets … [Read More...]
Coinbase welcomes customers from six new European markets
Since launching in 2012, Coinbase has continually worked toward its mission of creating an open financial system for the world. Over the past six years, we’ve expanded our footprint from the U.S. to 33 countries across the globe, making it easier for more people to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. Today, we’re taking another significant stride toward realizing our mission by announcing the rollout of Coinbase to six additional European markets.Starting today, Coinbase will be available in the following regions:AndorraGibraltarGuernseyIcelandIsle of ManLithuaniaNew customers in these markets will be able to make full use of Coinbase.com and our iOS and Android apps, allowing them to buy and sell cryptocurrencies on the Coinbase platform for the very first time. We also hope to make Coinbase Pro and Prime … [Read More...]
Chainlink (LINK) is launching on Coinbase Pro
Chainlink (LINK) has launched on Coinbase ProSupport for LINK is available in all Coinbase’s supported jurisdictions, with the exception of New York State. Additional regions may be added at a later date.After 10am PT on June 26, 2019, we began accepting inbound transfers of LINK to Coinbase Pro.Once sufficient supply of LINK was established the platform, trading on the LINK/USD, and LINK/ETH order books will started in phases, beginning with post-only mode and proceeding to full trading. Support for LINK is immediately available in all Coinbase’s supported jurisdictions, with the exception of New York State. Additional jurisdictions may be added at a later date.Chainlink (LINK) is an Ethereum token that powers the Chainlink decentralized oracle network. This network allows smart contracts on Ethereum … [Read More...]