Read on Twitter
Thread: So @coinbase is acquiring @BisonTrails and this is excellent news for the space
1/ Coinbase aims at having the full investment spectrum in cryptocurrency: @coinbase is for retail investors, @CoinbasePro is for sophisticated retail investors, Coinbase Prime for institutions with @CoinbaseCustody
1.1/ Bison Trails is a natural complement to Coinbase activities
1.1.1/ The business of Coinbase is to sell cryptocurrency
1.1.2/ One of the activities of Bison Trails is to produce cryptocurrency through Proof of Stake (PoS) protocols
1.1.3/ This is textbook vertical integration: Coinbase went right to the source of assets and returns they sell to their users
1.1.4/ Blockchain infrastructure delivers a Return on Investment through Staking, an Internet Bond as @MaraSchmiedt and @StakeETH put it: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13-s15SvCIUBukhSZiNkpd0sTff3izQ5G/view
2/ This is a great thing for Blockchain infrastructure
2.1/ Acquisitions by Coinbase tend to indicate a healthy trend in a market
2.1.1/ After Coinbase acquired @ParadexIO , we have seen major innovations and other valuable companies built in the Decentralized Exchange (DEX) sector https://blog.coinbase.com/welcome-paradex-to-coinbase-62f16cc9bd74
2.1.1.1/ Many of these innovations were protocol-based rather than company-led: @UniswapProtocol @1inchExchange
2.1.1.2/ The protocol-based candidate for leading Blockchain infrastructure is @POKTnetwork https://twitter.com/poktnetwork/status/1350219182743429122
2.2/ This is good for the ecosystem
2.2.1/ Quality Blockchain infrastructure is a public good: it enables anyone to build scalable and reliable decentralized applications
2.2.2/ Increased capital flows to the space will benefit crypto
3/ There are competitive implications for this acquisition that I'm looking forward to see unfold
3.1/ Blockchain infrastructure is critical for exchanges
3.1.1/ Binance had to halt Eth withdrawals when @infura_io was down https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/84232/ethereum-infrastructure-provider-infura-is-down
3.1.2/ Hopefully exchanges will realize that they need to run their own nodes, it's a critical piece of infrastructure and a single point of failure, as @bitfinex did https://twitter.com/jjoemorgan/status/1326562706476978177
3.1.3/ Relying on solid third-party providers such as Bison Trails is an attractive proposition: they certainly weren't down when Infura went out. An exchange relying on Bison Trails wouldn't have had to stop Eth withdrawals
3.1.4/ Will this proposition stay as attractive for exchanges now that Bison Trails is owned by a competitor?
3.1.4.1/ We have seen products become deplatformed and being dependant on a competitor, even a mission-focused one, is a rather less than ideal proposition.
4/ What does this acquisition mean for the Blockchain infrastructure space?
4.1/ We might see other large crypto players gobble up Blockchain infrastructure providers as they come to the realisation than owning their connection to blockchains is critical and integrating production of Cryptocurrency is key when you make a living selling them
4.1.1/ When you cross a bridge thousands of times a day, you might as well buy its operator or build your own
4.2/ Or we might see the emergence of a Blockchain infrastructure protocol https://twitter.com/thomasdephuoc/status/1351902010711437317
In any case this is fantastic that we'll give more attention about how we access blockchains, who owns this access and how we can make it seamless, reliable and increasingly decentralized
