[hawkice]

Bitcoin is a technology defined by its community. That's why they made a public comment about a pending legal issue - to defend their reputation within that community. A community that, for instance, leads a HN discussion to be >50% arguments about whether government of any type is a bad idea. They'd get even more customers of they refused to comply with any subpoena, but then they'd be unable to interface with modern banking.

[drvdevd]

Good point. Coinbase by nature has to walk a line between two communities very much at odds with each other.

There is an onus on the bitcoin community to get more people to accept bitcoin directly as payment. Companies like coinbase could help that process along in theory, but they'll have to keep walking this line while they grow.

[polemic]

> They'd get even more customers of they refused to comply with any subpoena.

Dubious. They might capture more of an existing niche market. Coinbase is aiming to expand the market significantly to people don't see Bitcoin's murkiness as a feature. That is, the rest of us.