Since Sept 15th 2022 yes. We’ll see how it goes longer term, and what the fees and economics look like when things settle out.
We don’t know what Coinbase and Kraken are doing internally.
Coinbase does seem to be mostly off fees (which are sky high), and does seem not sketchy. It doesn’t appear overly easy for them even then (hence the ‘it’s hard’) despite folks being itching to put money in on the way up to the point they’ll mostly ignore high fees.
They’re definitely playing the long game, compared to the others that have looted billions elsewhere.
As the main on/off ramp in the US, they have a pretty nice position from it too.
Actually since Dec. 1 2020. That's when the production beacon chain went live with real ETH, even though the proof-of-work chain was still running in parallel. Coinbase and Kraken started offering it sometime in early 2021.
When it isn’t the primary or only way of doing it, it isn’t a model for if it will work economically. Which is why I picked that date.
That it was possible to do it differently earlier, and some folks did start transitioning, doesn’t change the fact that we don’t have much track record with it yet as ‘the way it is done’.
It usually takes decades for these things to stabilize into anything predictable.
Not sure what you mean exactly, but the live beacon chain was the only way to stake ETH since it was launched in 2020. By the time of the merge, over 10% of all ETH had been staked on it. Total stake now is just a little higher than it was just before the merge.
The intent is not for most ETH to be staked. 12-13% is fine, and they don't expect it to go beyond 30% or so. We just need enough staked so the network is secure.
Staked ETH isn't available to be used for any other purpose, like paying transaction fees, depositing in defi protocols, using as currency, etc.
Anyway, this is getting a bit far afield of my point, which is just that for ETH, exchanges can earn money on deposits, without loaning them out to risky side ventures.
You mean whether it's a viable model for the exchange? I have no idea, never looked at their numbers. But Coinbase is public, so now I'm curious whether they break out their revenue sources.
We don’t know what Coinbase and Kraken are doing internally.
Coinbase does seem to be mostly off fees (which are sky high), and does seem not sketchy. It doesn’t appear overly easy for them even then (hence the ‘it’s hard’) despite folks being itching to put money in on the way up to the point they’ll mostly ignore high fees.
They’re definitely playing the long game, compared to the others that have looted billions elsewhere.
As the main on/off ramp in the US, they have a pretty nice position from it too.