About Coinbase
Date: 2021-01-04
Source: https://craigwright.net/blog/law-regulation/about-coinbase
Coinbase is currently facing several
lawsuits. One of the lawsuits involves XRP and Ripple. Coinbase will likely
argue that they had no idea. Which would be a lie. Several years ago, senior
executives of Coinbase visited nChain’s offices in London. During the meeting, many
issues were discussed, including the nature of Bitcoin, and how it doesn’t fork
and that any changes creating a new chain would result in passing it off as
Bitcoin. I noted, when I had created Bitcoin, the protocol had been set in
stone [1].
In our discussions, I pointed out Liberty
Reserve and several prior cases. In discussing XRP, I was told that it was ‘crypto’,
so it wouldn’t be a security. Basically, the executives at Coinbase did not
care. They were informed of the nature of XRP and of the action with BTC and
its copying of the Bitcoin database and the creation of a new system. Coinbase,
though, doesn’t care about reality. They care about ensuring that their clients
lose money trading. Overall, trading is a zero-sum game. But, some of the fees
go to Coinbase.
For every coin that goes up in value,
someone loses money. Money is not created out of thin air, as those promoting
the “cryptocurrency” get-rich wagon try to tell you. But, whether the price of XRP
or BTC goes up or down, Coinbase makes money.
In the same meeting, we also discussed USDT.
The outcome would be simple.
Coinbase doesn’t care about anything other
than making money. The law is secondary. They intentionally chose to overlook
the law. Coinbase was definitively put on notice, years ago, as to the state of
all such systems. As with many others, pointing out the law, and how it applies
to digital currency systems and digital token systems, was part of where the
attacks against my character started.
I had been pointing out the same issue in
2014 and 2015. In 2014, I pointed it out to Ripple, who would ignore me
completely. I discussed the issues concerning Bitcoin with members of Bitcoin Core
and Blockstream, including Adam Back, in 2013 and 2014. So, when certain
individuals started attacking me, it wasn’t for any other reason than to shut
me up and have people not listen. The “cryptocurrency” feed wagon has been good
to such people. They have managed to milk unsuspecting dupes of their money for
years. Their aim lies not in creating a system that acts as digital currency or
digital cash, but instead in creating an online casino, where only the casino
wins.
Bitcoin was designed as a digital cash
system. Yet, Coinbase and others have created an online casino, one where
people gamble money and call it an investment. The promise of Bitcoin was a
commodity-based digital cash system that can be extended into many other uses.
But, Coinbase earns more profit promoting a digital casino. As an exchange,
where they buy and sell bitcoin for use, it opens up a completely different
market, but not one that allows Coinbase to maintain custodial control. It is
not a market where they make excessive profits, no matter how much their
clients lose. In their original construction, the company was designed as a
broker allowing people to buy and use bitcoin. But, BTC is not bitcoin, and it is
not usable as cash. Instead, BTC is well-suited to be traded and gambled on
unregulated exchanges (aka bucket shop casinos) that promote false information
concerning such systems.
Coinbase is portrayed as an organisation of
regulatory compliance, which presents a deception. Coinbase always knew that
XRP was a security; they simply sought to deceive the regulators. Coinbase
always knew that following the split in 2017, the BTC network would not be Bitcoin.
But, Coinbase was complicit in the deception.
So, I am more than happy to wait, to see
the executives of Coinbase weasel and lie their way into telling everybody that
they had no idea and that they don’t believe it. When they do, I’ll be there,
ready to provide evidence to the contrary. When the executives of Coinbase attempt
to give evidence showing that they had no idea that XRP was a controlled
security, I will happily demonstrate their perjury and show how they
intentionally overlooked the issue, amongst many others.
Footnotes
[1] See: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=195.msg1617#msg1617