Someone told me that if I purchase bitcoin from Coinbase that I didn't ACTUALLY own the bitcoin, but rather Coinbase owned it, and I just told them what to do with it?
I am new to this community and just seek clarification. How and where do I go about actually owning it?
Best,
Big Chocolate.
Well, what they really mean is that you don't really own the bitcoin, but rather Coinbase does. However, you have a claim against your bitcoins on Coinbase's company. So it's like a debt - coinbase owes you xx amount of bitcoin, and you can technically claim it from them any time. Sort of like a bank as well. You always have to consider whether or not the company is trustworthy enough to actually put money into it.
People consider this to be against the bitcoin's very principles, because bitcoin aims to build a trustless decentralized economy. In order to use coinbase's services first of all you have to trust the company. Coinbase is more like Paypal than a bitcoin company.
I agree with you. I use a coinbase wallet since more than two years and i had no problems at all. It's a bank of bitcoin and am very satisfied with it's services and it's easy to use it than blockchain.