U.S Bitcoin Wallet and Exchange Coinbase Adds Ethereum Support

San Francisco headquartered Bitcoin wallet and exchange Coinbase has finally added Ethereum support for its retail clients that can now buy, sell, send, and store ETH in their accounts. The move has been expected since May when Coinbase added Ethereum trading on GDAX, its institutional digital asset exchange.

Marking the occasion, Fred Ehrsam, the co-founder of Coinbase, went on an AMA on Reddit to answer questions from the community. He talked about restoring CAD accounts once they find a payment service provider or bank in Canada, his views on the cryptocurrency market and Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned). In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data, making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamp Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned). In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data, making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamp Read this Term development as well as experimenting with dapps.

One of the most interesting questions regarding Ethereum was about the possibility of smart contracts or decentralised p2p exchanges one day disrupting Coinbase's business model. Ehrsam answered: "My current thought is it is very challenging to run a performant decentralized exchange though. I love that they exist, but it feels like it is going to be a while before they can handle the type of volume that is going through digital currency exchanges right now, let alone what it will be in a year or two.

There are literally thousands of updates to the orderbook a second, more at the Wall St volume levels. That's a lot to do decentralized. Maybe there is a good solution here with something similar to payment channels? If people have thoughts on that I would love to hear them."

A Swift Kick

One subject that Ehrsam was not willing (or was not at liberty) to discuss is the news that Coinbase helped U.S authorities to shut down the most popular torrent site in the world, KickassTorrents (KAT), and track down its operator 30-year-old Artem Vaulin.

The lengthy criminal complaint detailing the investigation by Special Agent Jared Der-Yeghiayan, Homeland Security Investigations, (coincidentally the same agent from the Silk Road investigation) explains the matter:

On or about August 8, 2012, KAT’s Frequently Asked Questions page of its website listed the question, “Is it possible to make a donation to the site?” followed by the response, “Yes, you can donate with Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that Read this Term to this address: [Bitcoin Address]” (“KAT Bitcoin Donation Address”). Records received from the bitcoin exchange company Coinbase revealed that the KAT Bitcoin Donation Address sent bitcoins it received to a user’s account maintained at Coinbase. This account was identified as belonging to Artem Vaulin located in Kharkov, Ukraine, with a backup email address of tirm@me.com. The telephone number listed on the Coinbase account was the Vaulin Phone Number, i.e., the number listed for KAT Websites 2, 3 and 4. The KAT Bitcoin Donation Address shows at least one transaction being moved from its account on or about August 20, 2014, to a Coinbase account in Vaulin’s name. A total of $72,767 worth of Bitcoin (valued at the time of transaction) was deposited into Vaulin’s Coinbase account.