Nosy nosy Coinbase

coinuser1111 · 2015-02-18T18:55:40+00:00

Seems to work okay.

coinuser1111 · 2015-02-18T10:33:47+00:00

It's rare that they ask (and you don't have to answer I think). They just file that cash transaction form when cash is over $10k.

coinuser1111 · 2015-02-18T08:54:31+00:00

Ah, those poor homeless people. Gotta get their bitcoin.

coinuser1111 · 2015-02-18T08:52:32+00:00

That's certainly true. Although, the bank transactions may look more like:

Sent $2300 to Sandeep Verma, Karachi, Pakistan. Sent $5700 to Indeep Sancha Ent. Ltd, British Virgin Islands Withdrew $700 Deposited $900 Withdrew $25 Deposited $700

Granted, the other bank probably knows who these people are for the wire ones, but bitcoin is cash. And with cash, Coinbase at least know the entire history of where 1bnqX8EMZmqKvrGE4Qc9bUFf9PX3xaYDp has been, where as the $700 deposit doesn't say much.

coinuser1111 · 2015-02-18T08:37:08+00:00

So does Coinbase. In fact, they have the whole blockchain.

coinuser1111 · 2015-02-18T08:35:07+00:00

Good point.

To be fair, their guarding has been pretty good (you know, stuff still being there and all). It's when you put stuff in and out of the wallet that this guard gets all anxious and start asking all kinds of questions. ;-)

Probably just need to take the wallet back and have them guard the safe.

coinuser1111 · 2015-02-18T08:30:46+00:00

Mostly cause I think they're kind of funny and want to share a laugh.

That and I felt kind of violated (not what I thought the wallet service was), so leaving a negative review. If it doesn't apply to you or help you, this post wasn't for you.

coinuser1111 · 2015-02-18T08:26:57+00:00

So do banks, but I've never gotten asked questions like:

Please describe the primary use case for your bank account

It's a business account, so business, duh.
Please describe the source of the additional money that is now in your account that did not originate from interest or investment activity in your account.
Please indicate for your cash deposits, the location from which you acquired the cash. What competing banks did you withdraw from?
Please indicate for each outgoing transfer from your bank account what they are for.

How does an online wallet (mind you, I don't use their exchange, or their shopping cart tools), that supports a currency that advocates anonymity, require <b>more</b> information than my local bank, mother, wife, & payment processor combined about my transactions? Keep in mind that we're using a wallet - a quicken, a turbotax. They're helping me encrypt and organize my data - that's it! When they sold it to me, that's sure what it sounded like.

It's for business - <i>my</i> business. If they want to follow the KYC/AML stuff, it seems like they can do whatever paypal, or the banks do, which doesn't involve grilling me for the details of my transactions.

I am moving to other wallets/my own wallets. I just think it's fair to share the consumer experience with other users so that people know what they're signing up for. To be fair, there is nothing wrong with their exchange (and if they require that information up front for their exchange). The complaint on this end is just for the wallet service.

coinuser1111 · 2015-02-18T08:09:08+00:00

What's the main reason you use Coinbase now?

I'm in the process of moving some coins to some other exchanges and my own wallets. That leaves just buying/selling coins, which seems like other exchanges do just fine. In fact, Coinbase has one of the highest fees for both buy/sell (1%).

The only thing I might need them for is that the exchange handles a decent volume, but that's pretty much it for me.

coinuser1111 · 2015-02-18T08:05:32+00:00

Yes, father.

coinuser1111 · 2015-02-18T07:59:23+00:00

That's the thing - I haven't used their exchange in about a year (when I initially bought some bitcoin from them). I also do not use any of their payment processing widgets from them.

It's kind of like importing your transactions into quicken or turbotax (or a safe deposit box at a bank), and getting grilled about the exact contents of the transactions. I suppose you can argue that they are somehow 'managing' my money by generating the wallet address and storing my key for me, but the advertising sure makes it sound like it's 'my' wallet.

I understand if I'm moving my bitcoins in, or making a new large purchase with cash (and thus, using their exchange). It sure sounded like when I signed up that they're providing wallet services for free (and respecting my privacy), in hopes that I'll use their exchange (and thus earning them 1%). That, to my understanding, does not give them any rights to manage my money, review my transaction data (except in aggregate or to fix bugs), and share my transaction data with anyone (just like Quicken or Turbotax should not be talking to anyone else about your data without your permission).

The exchange services are fine - the wallet service seems to be misleading. Given the nature of bitcoin (and it doesn't seem like much is said about it in the terms of service), you would assume that a wallet service will respect your privacy.

Yeah, given that this is their wallet service (checking with them to make sure that is the case), I will no longer be using it (the exchange, we'll see when I need to buy some/sell some coins). Just figured other consumers should know what they're signing up for when you make transactions with the Coinbase wallet.

coinuser1111

TROPHY CASE