[ashwagary]

>This is equivalent to "mining" in a proof-of-work protocol, and comes with similar rewards from the protocol in exchange for securing the network (with the risk that if you deviate from consensus, your staked crypto could be "slashed"). Coinbase operates the validator on your behalf.

Using your analogy, if I send money to a Bitcoin mining company, they use the money to buy/run miners, and then send me a percentage of their profit, isn't that an investment in a common pool? Isn't the item they use to validate my share a security?

Bitcoin may not be a security but the middleman is a securitizing a service that involves bitcoin, right?

[humanizersequel]

The analogy wasn't great, but I'm struggling to think of an accurate one — investing or giving a loan to a company is obviously different than having a company interact with a protocol on your behalf. Maybe it's more like email providers?