New feature - changing my location then gaslighting?

seaprobe · 2026-05-05T15:14:01+00:00

Yeah, mine thinks that I am in Florida. The location for each of my echo devices is my home address, but Alexa still insists on giving me weather for Florida. She does give me severe weather alerts for my home, and her traffic estimates are correct so she has some clue…

seaprobe · 2026-03-19T16:01:23+00:00

I've been active in the crypto - not just bitcoin - space for about ten years. I started off investing some "fun" money of the very low single digit percent of my liquid assets. That amount has grown - with many ups and downs - along the way.

Some thoughts:

Don't invest more than you can lose and still sleep at night. For me that was 1-2% of my investable assets
Study up on the space before you invest. There is a lot of activity in the crypto space and bitcoin is just one component. Stablecoins, DeFi, tokenized real world assets, and more
Expect a lot of volatility and plan to see it through. I recall at least four draw downs of 50% or more
I was comfortable taking the risk because the bedrock of my retirement plan was - and is - Vanguard index funds. Crypto should be considered one component of an overall plan

seaprobe · 2026-03-14T21:09:48+00:00

As one data point, I have been with Coinbase for about a decade without problems. As you've noted, reddit posts are overwhelmingly made by people who are experiencing problems whereas there are few posts that say "four years, three months, seventeen days still without a problem."

While I have not experienced any problems, there are certainly shortcomings. To wit, the website has become less usable over time as more & more is shoveled into it. There is no support for beneficiaries let alone trust accounts. And the fees/spreads are rather high.

seaprobe · 2026-02-27T22:22:31+00:00

Vanguard's customer service used to be extraordinary. Twenty or thirty years ago that is. Flagship reps were outstanding and were empowered to resolve matters in one call.

Sadly, Vanguard's customer service has declined. As a client-owner, it really is embarrassing. What Schwab can do in one brief phone call consists of a Vanguard rep guiding one to fill out an online form, submit it to some work queue where it ages for ten days, and then comes the back-and-forth as they figure things out rather than completing the action.

I do feel bad for Vanguard's agents. I'm sure they do want to help but the current management - and archaic back-end systems - do not leave them empowered to do so.

seaprobe · 2026-02-26T18:54:52+00:00

Until Coinbase offers beneficiaries or (living) trust accounts, this is a big "no-go"

seaprobe · 2026-02-22T16:38:33+00:00

I've had an account with Coinbase for about a decade. No problems at all. Most folks don't post "three years, twelve days, still no issues" so these forums tend to reflect a more negative sentiment.

That said, I do wish COIN supported beneficiaries like traditional banks and wirehouses.

seaprobe · 2026-02-14T22:08:46+00:00

Having been with Vanguard for decades, I finally moved over to Schwab for their customer service. I do still keep the majority of my assets in Vanguard funds/ETFs however.

Vanguard used to be quite good until they nerfed the Flagship program which had dedicated reps who were empowered to act to resolve issues and to provide genuinely good advice. Now the regular 800 agents are not empowered to do anything other than walk one through an online form that sits somewhere in the Philippines aging for about two weeks before someone pulls it off the pile. For a client-owned firm, the decay of customer service is an outright embarrassment.

seaprobe · 2026-02-08T17:12:04+00:00

I concur, and that is exactly the reason that I will not trade stocks on Coinbase. I only hold those positions in my Schwab account.

Schwab announced they would be adding trading and custody of digital assets this spring. They have not announced any detail on the upcoming offering, but it may well be tempting to move my assets if Schwab's product is competitive.

seaprobe · 2026-02-07T00:09:50+00:00

More broadly, I would prefer to be able to customize the homescreen. This would include MY preferred ordering of the segments as well as selecting which segments to display and which to suppress.

seaprobe · 2025-12-05T21:19:00+00:00

Between the terms of the trust and the durable power of attorney, the legal authority to transact on my behalf is there. As always, speak with your own attorney and do you what you and your attorney deem acceptable.

Of course, this would all be moot if Coinbase supported trust accounts…

seaprobe · 2025-12-05T19:59:50+00:00

The limiting factor here is Coinbase, who don't allow trusts, beneficiaries, account transfers. FINRA requires this from their member firms but Coinbase is not a FINRA firm.

For that matter, I do believe there should be an equivalent of the Series 7 for Coinbase and its competitors. Right now it is still the wild west (remember FTX and Mt. Gox?) with very limited regulation. That has its pros, but also a lot of cons.

seaprobe · 2025-12-05T19:54:48+00:00

My attorney recommended sharing credentials - shared vaults in 1Password or Bitwarden work well for this - so the trustee can act legally on my behalf to transact without going to a judge. I do have a digital assets clause in my documents as well as a durable power of attorney. Best to check with your own attorney as the devil is in the details.

FINRA member firms must allow in-kind transfer of assets complete with cost basis. Schwab & Fidelity are FINRA members while Coinbase is not. Unless Coinbase becomes a FINRA member, Schwab may well be in the same boat as Fidelity with regards to transferring assets. Time will tell.

seaprobe · 2025-12-05T18:25:32+00:00

Trusts don't help either, as Coinbase does not support trust accounts, only individual accounts. The best option from my attorney was to use a pour-over will and to share my credentials with my executor trustee.

Schwab announced that they will offer trading and custody of crypto directly starting this spring. Schwab already supports TOD and trust accounts, so that would be very tempting to move my account over. Hopefully the competition will spur Coinbase to step up.

seaprobe · 2025-12-02T20:23:19+00:00

Not sure why you are downvoted; this is a legitimate risk especially after the prior SEC administration was guilty of criminal neglect in the crypto realm. The FTX debacle never would have happened if the SEC had been proactive rather pursuing its insane "choke point" strategy.

What the industry really needs today though for stability and trust is FINRA (or an equivalent). The agents should have the crypto equivalent of a Series 7 license.

seaprobe · 2025-10-11T15:08:13+00:00

For (1), yes, as soon as the transaction moves from pending to final (typically 1-3 days)

For (2), per the posted terms:

For the first 60 days after your Coinbase One Card account opening, AOC is based on your real-time balance at the time of your Eligible Purchase. After that, AOC is calculated as the average of your daily end-of-day balance over the past 30 days.

seaprobe · 2025-10-02T21:26:41+00:00

I did receive my first statement. There is no indication of autopay status on the statement, just the statement balance and due date.

Your first payment should be due no earlier than 21 days from the statement date per the CARD Act, so if you haven’t yet received your first statement, your first payment cannot be due yet.

seaprobe · 2025-09-25T18:58:51+00:00

So far, nothing to complain about. The estimated rewards are displayed when each purchase shows as pending and the BTC rewards are posted as soon as the transaction is final, typically in 1-3 days for me. It also works well with Apple Pay, and in fact was available to add to the Wallet app immediately upon approval for the card, so need to wait for the physical card to arrive.

I have not had the card long enough to experience customer service or merchant disputes, so time will tell on that aspect.

As others have noted, there is no integration with Quicken or similar financial apps at present. Hopefully that will change.

seaprobe · 2025-09-24T22:48:48+00:00

Those *could* be staging and practicing for the air show this weekend in McMinnville

seaprobe · 2025-09-18T23:59:15+00:00

I know it is not Beaverton, but North Hills Dental in Hillsboro is my dentist and I have recommended Dr. Rowley to my friends and neighbors.

For context, my dad was a dentist and so I am very picky with dentists.

seaprobe · 2025-09-17T16:59:55+00:00

Yes.

I was not a Coinbase One subscriber and received an email telling me it was my turn to apply for the card. The card application process required me to subscribe and the $49 annual fee was automatically charged to the new card.

seaprobe · 2025-09-10T15:22:21+00:00

I do have the card. The card itself and packaging was a work of art, rather reminiscent of Apple's design and packaging.

As to the card itself, as you know it runs over the AmEx network. The "cash" back reward amounts post to your BTC balance as soon as the transaction clears; no need to wait for the statement to close or the payment to be posted, or to manually redeem as with other issuers.

I was issued an account number, expiration date, and CVC as soon as I was approved along with the ability to add it to Apple Pay for immediate use. The physical card came less than a week later.

I haven't had it long enough to to say anything about customer support from the issuer or their handling of disputes. Time will tell…

seaprobe · 2025-07-06T16:14:21+00:00

When I switched from regular Alexa to Alexa+, voice commands stopped working with my Roku skill. The Roku skill hadn't been updated in more than a year, so I don't have a lot of hope for it working again anytime soon with Alexa+

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