Quote from: JorgeStolfi on January 25, 2015, 11:21:39 PM

Quote from: chairforce1 on January 25, 2015, 10:39:44 PM

Quote from: Morecoin Freeman on January 25, 2015, 10:29:58 PM

How is this good news?

My thought is this makes the acquisition of BTC safer, easier, and more available.

I though that, Coinbase being already licensed as a payment processor, a Coinbase customer already could
* deposit dollars at Coinbase
* buy bitcoins at Coinbase,
* withdraw his bitcoins,
* send bitcoin to a merchant
* have Coinbase send the dollar value of his bitcoins to merchants

With a money transmitting license, a Coinbase client can also
* sell his bitcoins to Coinbase (or other Coinbase clients)
* withdraw the dollars from such sales

I.e. Coinbase becoming a fully licensed exchange makes it easier for people to sell their bitcoins (not just spend them in purchases). They could already buy bitcoins from them, so that part did not get any easier.

Is this correct?

They weren't an exchange. Now they are one, if the WSJ article is to be trusted.

Until now, Coinbase had none of the liquidity requirements any half-serious trader needs (see here for buy/sell limits, for example)

So, yes. It makes it "easier for people to sell their bitcoins". But, if true, oh boy does it also make it easier for people to buy them ^_^