However, Mr. Armstrong patronizingly-announced a product saying "Namaste, India!" (I kid you not!), in local papers -- one he obviously hadn't yet vetted (or fully built?) with regulator-related payment services in India. These guys -- they run Coinbase like it's a goofy high school play, not a multi-billion dollar public company. Damn.
In any event, this is a deeply-embarrassing moment for what is supposed to be a borderless, completely law-compliant financial intermediary organization.
Here's the story, from The Street online magazine:
. . .Coinbase customers now find themselves without the means to fund their accounts with rupees.
"As of April 10, buys are currently disabled due to an ongoing issue we’re experiencing with the UPI system," Coinbase said on its Indian website. "We’re working hard to resolve the issue, and we advise that you check your account periodically to see if the issue is fixed."
It continued: "Note that we don’t support another payment method to buy crypto at this time. Thank you for your patience and understanding."
Coinbase did not immediately respond to a request for comment. . . .
Namaste literally means "I bow to the Divine, in you" -- and is usually reserved for people who sincerely hold that belief. Mr. Armstrong is a devout follower of Ayn Rand. [Pretty much the opposite of that.]
This is (for me) hard to see as anything but pandering, then. He is afterall the guy who in early 2020, said he wanted a "post-racial" workforce, refusing to endorse any social justice initiatives, after George Floyd's murder by cop. Many workers of color, and not so, quit after that debacle. Yet here he is, co-opting people of color in what I would argue is a deeply cynical appeal.
Damn.
[And then there was that nonsense spend of $14 million on an ad at the Super Bowl that crashed his website.] Anyhoo -- with Bitcoin stuck in a side-ways band around $40,000... and difficulty at all time highs -- it is hard to see how Riot Blockchain doesn't fall tomorrow, on the NASDAQ. To be honest, though -- we will be keenly focused on the Musk / Twitter drama now unfolding, over at the other property.
Onward now, to egg hunting!
नमस्ते
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