I never understood Coinbase but then I am also a dummy when it comes to crypto in general and never understood it. But coinbase, isn't it a centralized service that sort of defeats the purpose of crypto/bitcoin which is supposed to be decentralized ?
GitHub is also a centralized service that defeats the purpose of using decentralized technology. People will use centralized services when they contribute value in excess of the loss of value from being less decentralized.
I donno. With Github, I still have my source code somewhere stored locally. With coinbase, you are at their mercy because doing finance things is not that easy. Again, I think crypto/bitcoin is stupid but its just me may be.
The point of crypto isn't to force decentralization, it's to permit it. If you'd like to keep your crypto on a service like Coinbase, you have that freedom. Alternatively, if you'd like to self-host your crypto, you also have that freedom. The option is the whole point.
Either way most people still need somewhere to buy it if they don't have any, which is what Coinbase is primarily for.
> But coinbase, isn't it a centralized service that sort of defeats the purpose of crypto/bitcoin which is supposed to be decentralized?
Dollar cost average in, say, every month, on Coinbase, withdraw the BTCs immediately to an address you control (for example using an hardware wallet).
Do that 20 times and you never have more than 5% of your cash at once on the centralized exchange.
Some call it "on ramp / off ramp".
Now I don't doubt some people use Coinbase as their wallet: both for the on/off ramp and to store their coins (that is: without bothering to ever withdraw to an address they control) but nothing forces people to do that.
> But these exchanges don't do gold do they? I thought that was only real money besides bitcoin?
I think some do gold and are using these old companies in Switzerland holding gold for people in vaults, with proof of reserves (contrarily to the gold "it's there we swear but we refuse an audit" inside Fort Knox).
Nothing stops you from selling physical gold for USD (or EUR or whatever), sending that money to Coinbase, buying Bitcoin.
I don't think people are disputing that USD/EUR are used to pay taxes and to buy everyday thing. What some people are disputing is the value of USD/EUR in the face of ever more indebted states and ever more money printed.
The goal is not to never use USD/EUR: the goal is to never be exposed to these for too long. At the very least you'd want yield on your USD/EUR countering inflation (and for that it's not sufficient to "keep your USD at the bank").
I mean, it's for speculators speculating on the price. Crypto is too volatile to use as a currency. Like would you buy a pizza with your NVDA shares? No. You just hold them in the brokerage and turn them into cash when the price meets your target. People are using Coinbase to do exactly that with crypto.
