Coinbase experienced another glitch showing $0 balances for some users amid increased trading activity - it assured users that funds are safe and trading is unaffected.
Tuesday, March 5, 2024Coinbase, America's largest cryptocurrency exchange, recently met with the SEC to discuss Grayscale's proposed Ethereum ETF. Conversion of Grayscale's Ethereum Trust into a spot ETH ETF would allow investors to access spot Ethereum exposure directly through their normal brokerage accounts. According to documents filed with the regulator, the presentation covered possible market manipulation and described Ethereum as resilient to fraud and manipulation.
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase intends to raise $1 billion through a private offering of senior convertible notes with repayment due by April 2030. This initiative aims to secure funds for clearing off existing debts due in 2026, 2028, and 2031 and for corporate purposes. The notes will be offered to eligible institutional investors and can be converted into cash, Coinbase shares, or a combination thereof.
In this interview, Coinbase's Chief Security Officer Philip Martin, discusses the pervasiveness of scams beyond crypto and emphasizes education and proactive measures for prevention.
Base, an Ethereum L2 network created by Coinbase, saw transactions soar to over 1 million and fees drop after the Dencun upgrade.
Coinbase’s L2, Base, has been gaining traction after the Dencun upgrade leveraging lower fees, account abstraction, and Coinbase’s enormous user base. The team is developing a smart wallet that simplifies wallet creation with non-custodial, exportable keys and traditional login methods. This new service aims to make web3 interactions via Coinbase more user-friendly, enhancing its utility and impact on the crypto market.
Coinbase has applied to the CFTC to list Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Dogecoin futures trading. Should the CFTC give the green light, these digital asset products could be available for trading as early as April 1. The move marks a significant step towards further legitimacy for these cryptocurrencies.
A US District Judge has ruled that the SEC’s securities lawsuit against Coinbase can proceed, despite the firm’s attempt at getting a dismissal. This decision implies that cryptocurrency transactions could fall under the SEC's jurisdiction, despite Coinbase's objections. The judge dismissed claims against Coinbase's Wallet product, stating the SEC has failed to prove that it acts as a 'broker'.
Head of Legal at the Blockchain Association, Marisa Coppel, shares her insight into recent Coinbase case developments for the industry. With the SEC’s claim that the Coinbase Wallet is an unregistered broker being dismissed, developers can rest assured that peer-to-peer technology does not fall under the oversight of the SEC. Though the rest of the case still stands, this is not unexpected, as the court must take all claims by the SEC as fact until the upcoming discovery period.
A wallet thought to belong to the US government transferred 30,175 Bitcoins on Tuesday morning. According to Arkham Intelligence, the destination of the transfer is Coinbase, suggesting that the government may be planning to sell the coins. The Department of Justice seized 50,000 Bitcoins from the Silk Road website in 2022. The last sale of these coins was in 2023.
Coinbase has partnered with Lightspark to integrate the Bitcoin Lightning Network into its platform, promising its users instant, low-cost transactions. This collaboration, which leverages Lightspark's enterprise-grade infrastructure and AI-based optimization tools, will streamline Coinbase's Bitcoin transactions and set the stage for broader payment applications. The integration underscores a significant advancement for the Lightning Network's adoption, promising to boost network usage and liquidity conversion between Bitcoin, fiat, and other cryptocurrencies.
A lawsuit was filed against Coinbase by a few individuals in California and Florida alleging that Coinbase violated state securities laws with its digital asset sales. The lawsuit claims that SOL, MATIC, NEAR, MANA, ALGO, UNI, XTZ, and XLM as securities. Coinbase has previously argued that secondary crypto asset sales are not securities transactions.
The SEC has asked the court proceeding over its lawsuit against Coinbase to reject Coinbase's petition asking for a new regulatory system for crypto. In March, Coinbase claimed that the SEC does not have the authority to extend securities rulings to apply to crypto. The SEC sees its incremental application of existing regulations to crypto as reasonable and within its discretion.
The State of Wisconsin Investment Board, a state agency responsible for public retirement and trust funds, filed reports showing that it holds $163 million in Bitcoin ETFs. $99 million is held in BlackRock's iShares ETF, with $63 million in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. The Board also holds shares of Coinbase, Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms, MicroStrategy, and other crypto-related companies. Analysts expressed surprise at the rapid adoption of Bitcoin by a state pension fund.
Any entity with over $100 million in assets must file a 13F each quarter with their holdings. The Q1 filings show that ~3% of the ETF market cap is held by investment advisors, ~10% by hedge funds, and ~85% by retail investors – the average ETF is 35% owned by investment advisors. The ETFs appeared to hurt Coinbase's retail volume, as its retail volume is 50% of what it was in 2021. This author, a macro investment researcher, sees the ETFs as “orange FOMO poker chips” and says that the goal of a decentralized financial system should not be pushing money into ETFs.
Donald Trump, aiming for a second term as U.S. President, has announced that his campaign will now accept cryptocurrency donations, marking a significant shift from traditional campaign financing. Supported by Coinbase, his platform now accepts a wide array of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and various meme coins, positioning him as the first major party Presidential nominee to embrace such a diverse range of digital assets for campaign contributions.
Coinbase is adding retail-sized gold and oil futures to its derivatives platform on June 3. It aims to increase trader retention amidst growing crypto exchange competition. Coinbase Derivatives launched in June 2023 and has grown to host fifteen perpetual futures products.
An Indian man, Chirag Tomar, pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy for stealing over $37 million in cryptocurrency through a phishing scam using a fake Coinbase website.
Coinbase Wallet has introduced a feature to send tokens via text to kick off its Onchain Summer initiative. Recipient phone numbers will receive a link to claim the tokens, which will be returned to the sender if not claimed in 2 weeks.
Coinbase has launched a smart wallet designed to facilitate the onboarding of a billion users by enhancing the capabilities and ease of use of self-custodial wallets. These innovative wallets are positioned as a key element in expanding global access to blockchain networks.
Coinbase has introduced a new Smart Wallet, offering a self-custodial solution that uses biometrics and a passkey system to secure transactions via a user-specific smart contract. This innovative approach ensures that users retain sole ownership of their wallet, with multiple layers of recovery provided by iCloud Keychain and Google Password Manager, minimizing reliance on intermediaries and enhancing user control and security in managing their digital assets.
Coinbase has introduced pre-launch markets, allowing users to trade tokens before their onchain creation and participate in price discovery. Pre-launch markets uses a perpetual derivative model, basing the token price off the exponential moving average of the market's mark prices every four hours. The first token supported will be EIGEN and trading will be open to Coinbase International Exchange and Coinbase Advanced users.
The crypto industry has significant political influence in the 2024 US election through a $169 million campaign fund managed by the Fairshake PAC. Companies like Coinbase, Ripple, and a16z are financing the fund but rarely discuss its decision-making process. In pursuing its goal of de-politicizing crypto, it has supported over 20 congressional primary wins and is preparing to influence races beyond the 2024 election cycle.
Coinbase is suing the SEC and FDIC, using the Freedom of Information Act to demand the release of documents concerning past crypto investigations and regulatory actions. It claims these agencies have systematically hindered the crypto industry, which can be seen in the ongoing disputes over regulation and access to banking services for crypto firms.
Stripe and Coinbase are partnering to boost global crypto adoption by integrating USDC on Base into Stripe's payout and onramp services and incorporating Stripe's fiat-to-crypto onramp into Coinbase Wallet for instant crypto purchases with credit cards and Apple Pay.
Coinbase is launching a new web app designed to act as a hub for users to manage their entire crypto portfolio (tokens, NFTs, and DeFi positions), with the goal of simplifying the user experience and bringing its entire user base of ~100M "on chain." The app will allow users to connect multiple wallets and perform a range of on-chain activities.
Coinbase's recent weekly report suggests the U.S. economy may have peaked in Q2 '24, which may discourage retail investors from further investing in crypto or stocks. The report talks about key recession indicators like a rising unemployment rate and an inverted Treasury yield curve amidst expectations of a September Fed rate cut.
Users can now transfer USDT on Tron to Coinbase Wallet, where it will convert to USDC on Base for free.
Coinbase is planning a tokenized money-market fund in a push towards the real-world asset sector.
Coinbase reported Q2 revenue results, returning $1.4 billion in Q2 revenue and exceeding market expectations despite an 11% drop from the previous quarter due to declining crypto prices. The company's gains were attributed to its USDC interest earnings, transaction revenue from Base, and advancements in regulatory clarity.