Coinbase has made *usability* central to its product.
It has succeeded in being the easiest-to-use exchange, perfect for crypto novices.
They could have easily gone in another direction and built for power-users.
12/
Coinbase has chosen *safety* over speed.
Compare the trajectories of Coinbase and Binance.
Binance adds new assets at an insane rate. But the company doesn't really care about the legitimacy of these coins.
Coinbase moves slower, vetting more carefully.
(Aside)
This was a key disagreement at Coinbase during Balaji Srinivasan's term as CTO.
Apparently, Srinivasan constantly pushed for Coinbase to prioritize adding currencies, while COO Asiff Hirji wanted to the company to focus on serving institutions.
13/
Coinbase has played nice with regulators choosing to ask for *permission* rather than beg for forgiveness.
The focus on building a regulatory "moat" really began in 2015, with Coinbase bringing talent like Brian Brooks onboard, an EVP from Fannie Mae.
14/
Taken together, these decisions established Coinbase as:
1. The on-ramp for crypto n00bs 2. The trusted partner for institutions
$COIN's product sprawl reflects that positioning with a full-suite of offerings for consumers and enterprises.
15/
So, what do the numbers look like?
Very impressive.
Coinbase mostly makes money on trading fees. Crypto mania has made this a particularly active time to trade BTC et al.
Last night, the $GENERALIST experiment ended. By the numbers:
1. Raised 20 ETH on @viamirror from supporters 2. Shared 10 ETH w @jackbutcher 3. Shared 5 ETH w S-1 Club contributors 4. Released our coverage 5. Minted 3 NFTs 6. Sold 3 NFTs for combined 28.6 ETH
A few thoughts.
This might be the purest multi-dimension win I've been a part of.
- Writers won by earning ETH for their work.
- Artists won by earning ETH for their art.
- Collectors won by buying meaningful work.
- Supporters won by us selling at 30% profit.
Win/win/win/win.
This has made me rethink value.
At current prices, our work sold for +$59K. That is wild to think about for a report that's free.
Has every S-1 Club been "worth" that amount?
No.
There was combinatorial value created by bringing in new stakeholders and artists.