There's so much backlash on Coinbase, I'm an incoming intern in the Fall, and honestly seeing how much backlash there is worries me. Coinbase is my dream company and seeing the public perception is making me second guess it. So many people keep saying they will go bankrupt in 6 months, but I want to work here for the next couple of years as I graduate from school, but seeing how everything is going on seems like it won't happen.
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Aside from that I haven't looked at the company financials or anything, but I'd be surprised if they died in 6 months, they had plenty of runway last I heard. I also don't see how being an intern there would be a black mark on your resume unless you're some web3 zealot who can't stop talking about how Bitcoin is going to replace the dollar in interviews or something (granted that might be a positive trait if you're interviewing for jobs in web3 related companies). If you're there as an intern or junior employee and the company goes under, no one's going to be blaming you. I imagine you'll have plenty of job prospects and transferable skills from the experience in such a scenario.
So best case scenario it's your dream job, worst case scenario you have a well-known and (from an outsider's perspective) technically competent company on your resume as a junior employee. But given the inherent volatility in the sector it would be naive to expect stability from the position. So if you do go ahead with the internship and get hired there, I'd keep your resume up to date and entertain the occasional interview.
https://s27.q4cdn.com/397450999/files/doc_financials/2022/q1...
If you look at page 10, for Q1 2022, retail revenue was close to $1b, while institutional revenue was only about $50m, and hasn't been really growing (declining in fact). This likely means that when the hard time comes and people don't have disposable income anymore, Coinbase will also suffer when the tides of retail investors go out.
I'm beginning see Coinbase and Robinhood in the similar category of companies in pay day loans and casinos - they might do really well as a company but a lot of it is quite unhealthy profit generation from the least informed and struggling sector of the population.
If they do go bankrupt in the next 6 months it will be because they are doing something shady and it blows up. I don't think they are, but they are in a very shady industry so they might be.
Why is a company which is in an industry which is full of scams and bs your dream company? May as well join Philip Morris? The other consideration is long-term, because either a) crypto blows up or b) margins will erode significantly. But those are 5-10 years out.
Ahh. hold on, let's use that fact:
Let's say another 50% or more reduction in share price is 'bad' for you, the options market says the chance of that happening by the end of the year (well Jan 2023) is 10% ish, if I am reading it right. So the market thinks they will likely survive for about your internship anyway.
The probability of 10% is surprisingly about the same going forward another year to Jan 2024. So I think you are OK. If someone disagrees, go make some money, the market is ready to hand you cash.
This is quite a crude way, but it puts some probabilities on it, otherwise it is just my opinion something like "yes crypto is dead they'll go bust" which is just not based on anything.
Reference: https://www.barchart.com/stocks/quotes/COIN/volatility-greek...
Where "Delta" is approximately the probability of the option being exercised.
Now if you really want to make money, bet with your friends on things that sound unlikely but are likely, based on the deltas of options.
The concepts are fine and everyone is a consenting adult in theory, but the reality is that those industries just hurt people and concentrate wealth among people who are willing to cause harm. We're not interested in working with people who are suckers at best and mercenaries at worst.
Plus, many mainstream companies have been sued for all kinds of terrible stuff, sometimes even criminal.
Judging others’ morals is a slippery slope.
What are these "the same things" that crypto/gambling companies do that others also do to keep themselves afloat?
> Plus, many mainstream companies have been sued for all kinds of terrible stuff, sometimes even criminal.
How is what a company does without employees knowledge relevant to that employee? Are you saying that crypto/gambling companies are dealing in crypto/gambling behind their employees backs?
> Judging others’ morals is a slippery slope.
WTF does this mean? We shouldn't judge anybody for anything ever?
If you think crypto is a massive scam and immoral, why would you want to hire people from there?
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Why? Most smart developers know that crypto companies are capitalizing on Ponzi schemes. If they don't know that, then they don't know their own industry very well.
We're never going to need 100+ developers, and there are plenty of people to hire that have never been involved with a scammy industry.
> Is your employer “for profit”? Chances are they’ll do all the same things any other company will do to keep the boat afloat.
Yes, and we're profitable. I own 30% of the company and make technical hiring decisions. We will not forego our morals to hire additional developers. We don't need 10,000 (or even 100) developers, so it will be easy to find as many as we need.
> Plus, many mainstream companies have been sued for all kinds of terrible stuff, sometimes even criminal.
There's a difference between Boeing (a company with deeply unethical leaders, but a perfectly legitimate product) and Binance (a company with a deeply unethical service).
I can believe a software developer at Boeing didn't know what was happening or was just doing what they were told to preserve their career. I can't believe the same for people in crypto (or repeat offenders, like Facebook).
> Judging others’ morals is a slippery slope.
Boycott is one of the only tools I have to preserve my own morals, to try to prevent others from doing what I consider to be evil, and to stay sane. I can't enforce my morals, but I can exercise the "invisible hand" of my market power and refuse to advance the careers of people who don't care about harming users.
This is partly a personal decision -- I don't want to work with people I think are unscrupulous -- and partly a business decision. If those developers were so disrespectful of their users' wellbeing at their previous employers, why wouldn't they be at mine? Can I trust them to do all the tedious things that developers have to do for security? Can I trust them not to sell our clients' data?
Not judging them is a damn sight more slippery. All it took for German society to go straight to hell was to not judge their madman’s claims about minority groups.
Far better to refuse the business of the corrupt, than to ignore it and participate in it.
I am no fan of cryptowhatever, but how are you any better?
Our software automates the tedious parts of what analysts do, so our customers can take down their unfilled job openings and make their analysts happier.
It's not saving the world or even making the world a better place, but it's a software business that does what software is supposed to do: automate work that humans can't or won't do.
Why exactly is Coinbase your 'dream company'? If they are basically a brokerage that deals with a particular asset type, then what about Coinbase differentiates them from e-trade, Charles Schwab, Robinhood or any other brokerage?
Working at a brokerage was not my idea of a dream when I was looking for an internship many years ago. I'm curious to know why it's your dream.
This is something I dont understand. If cryptos are falling like they are, it surely is bc people are selling and selling at cheaper prices. Isn't that transaction volume that coinbase and similares charge for?
Do your internship and get the "dream company" thing out of your system. Try to get offers from other companies. Re-evaluate when your internship is up. If they have gotten burn under control, consider accepting an offer.
Look at the cashflow statement to understand it.