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Coinbase Lets You Buy and Sell USDC Stablecoin (techcrunch.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the tightly-regulated dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: A few weeks after Circle announced the launch of USD Coin (or USDC for short), Coinbase also announced that customers can now buy, sell, send and receive USDC on Coinbase. A USDC is a token that is worth exactly 1 USD. Its value is going to stay stable against USD -- hence the name stablecoin for this type of coins. Unlike traditional cryptocurrencies, you can be sure that the value of your USDC wallet isn't going to fluctuate like crazy. It opens up new possibilities and use cases.

While Coinbase lets you hold USD in your Coinbase account, this isn't safe. If somebody hacks into your account, you could end up with an empty wallet. That's why you should always try to control the keys of your wallet and transfer your coins to a safer wallet, such as a Ledger wallet or at least a software solution like MyEtherWallet. But if you want to short cryptocurrencies without sending your USD back to your bank account, you can now convert your tokens to USDC. This way, it'll be easier to buy cryptocurrencies again in the future. And maybe you can avoid paying taxes by hiding your tokens from taxation authorities USDC is an ERC-20 token that leverages the Ethereum blockchain and ecosystem. In an effort to regulate USDC, Circle, Coinbase and others have created the CENTRE consortium to define the policies around stablecoins. "For instance, if you want to handle stablecoins on your exchange, you need to send regular audited reports that prove that you have as many USD sitting on a bank account as issued tokens," reports TechCrunch.

18 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. Or.... by Luthair · · Score: 3, Insightful

    you could just hold a dollar in a bank where the government guarantees your money...

  2. Finally by 110010001000 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I just transferred all my money into Stablecoin. I make $50,000 in IT in Silicon Valley so I have quite a bit to invest.

    1. Re: Finally by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I am intrigued by your ideas and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

  3. Tether was genius to keep the scam going by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Does this have the same clause as Tether that says you absolutely can buy these things with dollars, but no guarantee you can sel them back for dollars?

  4. Enough already by Artem+S.+Tashkinov · · Score: 1

    We already have USDT which is ostensibly "stable" and backed by "real" money but which has never been formally audited , and now USDC? What is this BS doing on /.?

    1. Re:Enough already by ceoyoyo · · Score: 2

      Somebody else realized that you could announce a digital token, claim it's worth $1 per, make some vague insinuations about hiding from taxes and buying shady stuff, and stupid people would give you actual dollars.

      Odd there haven't been more of these actually. I guess they've all been gambling they can make more than $1 per coin by letting the "value" float.

    2. Re:Enough already by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      Uh huh. Let me tell you, inflation is a bitch! The most fucked up thing about our economy is that it's more profitable to be in debt than hold hard currency which devalues over time. It's why property is a good investment; it's like a boat that rises with the tide (inflation). Gold and other precious metals would be a close 2nd, except the banks have won that war. Paper gold (by design) killed that market!

      --
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  5. That name is genius by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    It makes it sound 1000x more legit. Like it's backed by the government or something.

    That said, I can't think of any reason to use this besides money laundering. If I have a dollar I'll spend a dollar. I don't need crypto to do that.

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    1. Re:That name is genius by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Well, it's potential competition for PayPal...

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      #DeleteFacebook
    2. Re:That name is genius by Jeremi · · Score: 2

      I'll be introducing my StableGeniusCoin currency next month. It uses advanced cryptographic blockchain technology that guarantees that if you lose your investment, the Mexicans will pay for it.

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    3. Re:That name is genius by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      It makes it sound 1000x more legit. Like it's backed by the government or something.

      Pfft. Screw that. I'm starting legitcoin. That will make me infinitely more legit than all those other pretenders.

  6. Re:Such innovation by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    That's exactly why cryptocurrency nutters will jump on this.

  7. This is even stupider than cryptocurrency by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    Why would you even bother with this? It's nonsensical. If you want to hide your money from the government then just bury it in a coffee can in your backyard or somesuch shit. Or get a safety deposit box at a bank and stash your cash in there. Seriously I don't get this shit.

    1. Re:This is even stupider than cryptocurrency by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · · Score: 1

      Coffee cans rust. For stable hiding money from the govenment I would suggest getting some mason jars and using stainless steel lids with the silicon gaskets. If worried that metal detectors will find it then get some PVC pipe, cap one end with a fixed cap and the other with a screw on cap. Put in some of those air activated hand warmers to scavenge air and other off gassings and bury that.

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      Time to offend someone
  8. $50,000 in Silicon Valley? by fredrated · · Score: 1

    That isn't even poverty level.

    1. Re:$50,000 in Silicon Valley? by Jeremi · · Score: 1

      Making $50,000 at a job in Silicon Valley isn't too shabby, provided you are telecommuting from Bangalore.

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      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
  9. Progress by GeekWithAKnife · · Score: 1


    It is easy ti dismiss the importance of this bit of information. Just look at some of the comments about scams and what not.

    A lot of money still sits in Tether but tether's issue is that it is not publicly available for audit which has eroded trust.

    Why would you use this instead of money in the bank? -Many reasons but I'll name some;

    1. many tax schemes require you to pay tax *every time* you materialize an asset so anytime it goes back to USD/fiat -depending on where you.

    2. It is a more trustworthy solution as it is supposedly audited in a transparent way.

    3. It is a convenient way to send money between exchanges where monetary policy between intermediaries may differ depending on where the exchange is.

    4. It is a method to remove centralized control/single point of failure in tether/Bitfinex

    5. It is likely to be cheaper, safer (due to price volatility) and faster than transferring through most crypto tokens/coins

    6. It is a step towards better regulation which means more criteria of institutional investors are met increasing the odds some may invest/hedge in crypto.


    A regulated "stable coin" is a big deal.

    --
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  10. Wait wait wait by cshark · · Score: 1

    Isn't there already as USDC coin, that already attempted this, and failed miserably in 2014?
    Do we know if it's the same guys?

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