I'm done worrying. I withdrew everything and closed my account. Crypto is a fools errand.
Not a 'Fools Errand' but a 'Greater Fool Theory'
https://www.wsj.com/articles/bill-gates-says-cryptocurrencie...
$20 at most, bigger denominations aren't worth much. I wouldn't accept $100 as payment without someone to verify it, or going together to a bank to deposit it. And like the bills have to be in pristine condition, always complain if someone is trying to give you a damaged bill, that limits its spendability. Gotta know the bills well, maybe ask your bank if they can let you see for yourself the difference between real and fake bills so you can tell the difference. Banks can always get fresh bills by turning in your old ones, to keep up their condition. Plus newer bills have better copy-protection, and are therefore easier to verify.
And guess what? Your purchases will generally not be traced if you pay cash. This is important for books, stationary, electronics, medicine, and charity.
My decision had nothing to do with having cash, merely not wanting to be part of the insane volatility of Crypto and the potential loss of assets should Coinbase go bankrupt (which is a very non-zero possibility). Cash is merely the buffer to pay expenses until markets start to return to profitability at which point I'll move it all back to my usual safe index funds and Apple stock (aaaaaaahhhhh). 8-)
But I've also gotten out of shitty situations with that paranoia. Another way to describe it is "pessimistic creativity". But I am also risk-seeking, so the whole thing is being totally paranoid strictly in the situations that are actually dangerous, and apart from that, like if there's a threat go to the bunker and stay there as long as it takes without compromises and no regard for peer pressure, apart from that...roam downtown Santiago at 3 in the morning because it's no big deal. I'm no fraidy cat.
Fear what you have to fear, forget about everything else.
If you don’t offload to a private wallet and Coinbase goes completely defunct, there is no protection. Coinbase’s continued existence (and thus, your coins) and the market cycle of cryptocurrencies are mutually exclusive events.
Crypto really is just speed running early banking and financial systems.
Many bank runs would destroy banks and depositors were left with nothing. Eventually the FDIC was created to make sure people wouldn't lose everything and to prevent additional bank runs.
What's also interesting to think about is if we will ever see a coin halt transactions to prevent price changes. BTC is unlikely to face this since it's based on proof of work, but maybe a proof of stake protocol might have something like this happen, or a coin that has a small number of miners.
Maybe it would be similar to the few times NYSE has halted trading: https://www.thestreet.com/markets/history-of-notable-market-...
https://help.coinbase.com/en/coinbase/other-topics/legal-pol...