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   Technology StocksCoinbase Global, Inc. (COIN)


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From: Glenn Petersen9/8/2021 9:35:24 AM
   of 87
 
Coinbase shares fall after it reveals SEC plans to sue over interest-earning product

PUBLISHED WED, SEP 8 20216:45 AM EDT
UPDATED 38 MIN AGO
Tanaya Macheel @TANAYAMAC
CNBC.com

Coinbase has received notice of a possible enforcement action from the Securities and Exchange Commission related to its interest-earning product, which the company had planned to launch in the coming weeks.

The cryptocurrency exchange and services firm received a Wells notice from the SEC last Wednesday saying the regulator intends to sue Coinbase over the product, called Coinbase Lend, the company disclosed in a Tuesday night blog post. The SEC didn’t immediately return a call for comment.

Shares of Coinbase fell 3% in premarket trading Wednesday.

Chief legal officer Paul Grewal indicated in the post that the company was caught off guard by the threat considering its efforts to engage with the regulatory agency for the last six months. CEO Brian Armstrong claims in a series of tweets that when he traveled to Washington, D.C. in May, the SEC “refused” to meet with him.

That visit took place shortly after Coinbase became the first publicly traded crypto exchange and about a month after Gary Gensler had been confirmed as chairman of the SEC.

“We’re committed to following the law. Sometimes the law is unclear. So if the SEC wants to publish guidance, we are also happy to follow that,” Armstrong said.

The product in question is billed as allowing users to earn a 4% annual percentage yield on a so-called stablecoin (USD Coin) by allowing Coinbase to lend those funds to verified borrowers. Coinbase backs USD Coin and guarantees that it can always be redeemed for $1. High interest accounts have become popular among crypto users, with companies like BlockFi and Gemini similarly offering a high yield on stablecoin and other cryptocurrency balances.

Armstrong said when the company initially reached out to the SEC for a briefing ahead of the launch, the regulator responded by saying the Lend feature is a security. When the company asked the SEC to help it understand their view, the agency responded with a number of demands, with which Coinbase complied, according to Armstrong.

The product’s launch has been delayed until at least October.

Coinbase shares fall after it reveals SEC plans to sue over interest-earning product (cnbc.com)

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From: Glenn Petersen9/19/2021 9:36:11 AM
1 Recommendation   of 87
 
U.S. Homeland Security Signs $1.36M Contract with Coinbase

Coinbase’s new deal with the U.S. government is around forty times bigger than its last.

By Tim Hakki
Decrpt
2 min read
Sep 18, 2021

In brief: Coinbase will provide the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement branch with blockchain analytics software. The crypto exchange has also provided software to the U.S. Secret Service and Inland Revenue.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement branch of the U.S. Homeland Security has given a $1.36 million contract to crypto exchange giant Coinbase for “business application” and “application
The new deal is Coinbase’s largest federal development software”, according to the Federal Procurement Data System contract yet. The deal was signed on Thursday and is worth around forty times more than Coinbase’s last contract with the Homeland Security branch.

Back on August 9 this year, the ICE paid Coinbase $29,000 for forensics software. According to a document dated August 3, the contract was given to Coinbase on the basis that the company is “the only vendor who can reasonably provide the services required by the agency."

Details as to exactly what the ICE wants Coinbase software for are scarce. The same document later states, “This requirement is LAW ENFORCEMENT SENITIVE[sic], therefore minimal information will be provided publicly."

ICE is not the first government agency to request Coinbase’s services. Last year, Coinbase announced its desire to sell analytics tools to two U.S. government branches: the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Inland Revenue Service.

The IRS said that it could use several analytics tools to help catch blockchain-savvy tax dodgers, including “Coinbase Analytics”, formerly known as Neutrino. Coinbase acquired Neutrino back in 2019 for $13.5 million.

It was a controversial acquisition at the time since Neutrino members had been linked to an Italian organization called Hacking Team, which sold spyware to authoritarian regimes in Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Venezuela.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong later expressed his regret towards the purchase and sacked the more dubious members of the team. Coinbase later sourced analytics software deals with both the Secret Service and the IRS.

Coinbase is now inking million-dollar deals with the federal government. Move over Chainalysis: the U.S. government may have a new favorite blockchain company.

U.S. Homeland Security Signs $1.36M Contract with Coinbase - Decrypt

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To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (59)9/23/2021 2:38:38 PM
From: zax
1 Recommendation   of 87
 
I sold all my crypto holdings which were at Binance, in protest of Binance's piss poor customer service. Seriously, 8 weeks or more to respond to customer support requests?

Took a healthy profit on my cryptos; ~400% return.

Coinbase has hit my buy point. I'm in.

-- Zax

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From: Glenn Petersen10/14/2021 2:02:52 PM
   of 87
 
Coinbase Sees 1.4 Million Signups for New NFT Platform

The Coinbase NFT marketplace is seeing an “insane” amount of traffic as the number of users on the waitlist exceeds 1.4 million.

By Andrew Asmakov
Decrypt
2 min read
Oct 14, 2021

The waitlist for Coinbase NFT, a peer-to-peer marketplace for non-fungible tokens ( NFTs), has already seen over 1.4 million signups, and that’s in less than 48 hours since the San Francisco-based crypto exchange announced the imminent launch of the platform on Tuesday.

Slated to open before the end of the year, Coinbase NFT, according to the original announcement, “will make minting, purchasing, showcasing, and discovering NFTs easier than ever.”

“Just as Coinbase helped millions of people access Bitcoin for the first time in an easy and trusted way — we want to do the same for the NFTs,” the company said.

At press time, the waitlist counter for Coinbase NFT has reached 1,427,450 and with such a ratio of signups could be well on its way to surpass 2 million by the end of the day—provided technical issues don’t slow the process down.



Waiting list of newcomers to Coinbase’s NFT platform. Source: Coinbase
------------------------

“We are getting a LOT of signups - so grateful for all your interest,” Coinbase vice president of product Sanchan Saxena wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. “We are seeing insane loads on our servers and our team is working hard to get this resolved. Check back soon!”

Though there is little info regarding any fees the company may accrue from the new business, these “insane” numbers could turn into a hugely profitable new business for Coinbase.

Coinbase enters NFT race

OpenSea and Rarible are the NFT market’s current incumbents. The two were responsible for a combined $6.8 billion in trading volume in Q3 2021, with OpenSea contributing more than 99% to that figure, according to the latest report from blockchain analytics firm CoinGecko.

Data from DappRadar shows that over the past month, OpenSea has had a rolling 30-day average of 261,050 active users who have conducted a total of 2.49 million transactions worth $3.02 billion.

These are undoubtedly impressive numbers for the nascent NFT industry. Still, the booming DeFi sector dwarfs these figures, recently passing $216 billion in total value locked. With Coinbase and its user base of more than 68 million entering the scene, things could change dramatically.

Coinbase is also joined by major players Binance and FTX.

Coinbase Sees 1.4 Million Signups for New NFT Platform - Decrypt

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From: Glenn Petersen11/9/2021 6:06:32 PM
   of 87
 
Coinbase shares drop after third-quarter revenue misses analysts’ estimates

PUBLISHED TUE, NOV 9 20214:07 PM EST
UPDATED 2 MIN AGO
Samantha Subin @SAMANTHA_SUBIN
CNBC.com

KEY POINTS

-- Coinbase reported weaker-than-expected revenue for the third quarter.

-- The number of monthly transacting users dropped from the prior period.

-- Both bitcoin and ethereum hit new all-time highs this week.

Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., reported third-quarter earnings after the bell on Tuesday and missed analysts’ estimates on revenue. The stock sank more than 13% in extended trading.

Here’s how Coinbase did compared with analyst estimates:

Earnings: $1.62 a share

Revenue: $1.31 billion vs. $1.57 billion consensus estimate, according to Refinitiv

Coinbase said monthly transacting users fell from the prior period, dropping to 7.4 million from 8.8 million in the second quarter. The number was up from 6.1 million a year earlier. Trading volume fell to $327 billion from $462 billion in the previous quarter.

“As our year-to-date results have clearly demonstrated, our business is volatile,” the company said in its shareholder letter. “Coinbase is not a quarter-to-quarter investment, but rather a long-term investment in the growth of the cryptoeconomy and our ability to serve users through our products and services. We encourage our investors to take this point of view.”

Much of the company’s success hinges on the performance of digital assets like bitcoin. Coinbase said in August it expected lower trading volume and monthly transacting users in the third quarter after crypto assets dipped during the summer.

On Monday, bitcoin hit a new all-time high of $68,000, and ethereum set a new record, topping $4,800. Coinbase said in the report that bitcoin accounted for 19% of trading volume, and ethereum accounted for 22%. The remaining 59% came from other crypto assets, an increase from 50% in the second quarter.

Assets on the platform swelled to $255 billion from $180 billion at the end of June. About 55% of that is from institutional investors with the rest from retail.

Coinbase held its stock market debut in April at $381 a share and was briefly valued at high as $100 billion, on a fully diluted basis. The stock sank below $221 in July but has rallied dramatically in the past month, closing on Tuesday at $357.39.

Net revenue more than quadrupled from a year earlier to $1.23 billion. However, it was down from over $2 billion in the second quarter. Coinbase said it expects retail monthly transacting users and total trading volume in the fourth quarter to be higher than in the third.

In September, the company scrapped plans to launch a crypto lending product after it revealed that the SEC planned to sue over the product. Also during the quarter, Coinbase announced plans to launch a marketplace to trade nonfungible tokens and allowed customers to deposit paychecks into their accounts.

Facebook, now known as Meta Platforms, recently said it hired Coinbase to deal with logistics for its new digital wallet for cryptocurrencies.

Coinbase (COIN) earnings Q3 2021 (cnbc.com)

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From: Glenn Petersen2/24/2022 8:29:56 PM
   of 87
 
Coinbase posts big revenue beat but expects trading volume to fall in the first quarter

PUBLISHED THU, FEB 24 20224:11 PM EST
UPDATED 55 MIN AGO
Lauren Feiner @LAUREN_FEINER
CNBC.com

KEY POINTS

-- Coinbase reported fourth-quarter earnings after the bell on Thursday.

-- The earnings come after major cryptocurrencies saw a weak month in December, despite an overall explosion in value in 2021.

-- Coinbase warned shareholders during the previous quarter that its stock should be considered a long-term investment because its business is “volatile.”

Coinbase reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates after the bell on Thursday. Shares bounced around after the report. They were down about 5% in extended trading by the end of executives’ call with analysts.

Here are the key numbers:

Earnings per share (EPS): $3.32, versus $1.85 expected, according to a Refinitiv survey of analysts


Revenue: $2.5 billion, versus $1.94 billion expected, according to Refinitiv

The company predicted that retail monthly transaction users (MTUs) and total trading volume during the first quarter would be lower than the prior period. Coinbase attributed the change to decreased crypto asset volatility and a 20% decrease in crypto market capitalization quarter to date. Declining market cap is driven by macroeconomic factors like geopolitical instability and the Federal Reserve signaling a tightening of financial conditions, the company said.

Coinbase said it expects subscriptions and services revenue to be lower in the current quarter because of falling crypto asset prices.

MTUs jumped to 11.4 million in the prior quarter, up from 7.4 million in the third quarter; Coinbase saw a decline in MTUs between the second and third quarters.

It also reported net income doubled to $840 million in the fourth quarter compared with the prior period, or several times the year-earlier quarter, when it reported $177 million.

The report comes after major cryptocurrencies saw a weak month in December, despite an overall explosion in value in 2021. Investors blamed the year-end slowdown on concerns about cryptocurrency’s energy consumption and on macroeconomic factors like the rise of the Covid-19 omicron variant.

On the company’s call with analysts, CEO Brian Armstrong shot down the idea that the sector could be entering a new “ crypto winter,” which is essentially a bear market. Armstrong said that’s because of the change in significant use cases of cryptocurrency, which will make for a different result than earlier cycles of crypto winters and summers.

“I don’t expect it to be anything quite that pronounced over time,” Armstrong said, referring to previous crypto winters.

Coinbase warned shareholders in the previous quarter that its stock should be considered a long-term investment because its business is “volatile.”

That reality has been demonstrated in recent weeks as major cryptocurrencies like bitcoin fell amid concerns that Russian troops would invade Ukraine. The incursion has also led some analysts to question the idea that bitcoin could act as a safe-haven currency in times of geopolitical instability.

Coinbase did warn in its letter to shareholders that 2022 will continue to have a fair amount of uncertainty for its business.

“We enter 2022 with even more unknowns, which make our business all the more difficult to forecast,” the company wrote, pointing to “global macroeconomic headwinds” on top of unpredictable crypto asset prices, rising interest rates and inflation.

But, it said, on the other hand, that it sees increased opportunities and adoption of cryptocurrency.

CFO Alesia Haas said that while Coinbase’s stock moves have been largely tied to changes in cryptocurrency prices, the company hopes investors ultimately take into account the ways it is diversifying its platform and decouple the two factors. She noted that Coinbase is launching a non-fungible token (NFT) platform and that NFT prices and volume are “less correlated with other crypto assets.”

Coinbase (COIN) earnings Q4 2021 (cnbc.com)

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To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (63)4/15/2022 5:55:00 AM
From: daChosen1
   of 87
 
I have some speculations about Coinbase's future revenues. There is something interesting to note about how they make money. See how the majority of volume comes from institutional traders, while the majority of the revenue stems from the retail clients themselves. This leads to a perhaps self-evident fact that institutional teams are the ones doing the most volume, thus have the most impact to the price and momentum, and the bill is picked up by retail consumers of crypto, typically the everyday investor. In a normal enviourment, the big boys don't trade and lose money, the small retail investors do. So with the diminished trading volume and participation from retail investors, it doesn't look good at all for investors of Coinbase.

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From: Glenn Petersen5/10/2022 5:39:45 PM
1 Recommendation   of 87
 
Coinbase revenue drops 27% from a year ago, stock slides

PUBLISHED TUE, MAY 10 20224:23 PM EDT
UPDATED 9 MIN AGO
MacKenzie Sigalos @KENZIESIGALOS
CNBC.com

KEY POINTS

-- Coinbase reported first-quarter earnings after the bell on Tuesday.

-- The earnings come amid a major sell-off across the crypto market.

-- Coinbase earnings missed analyst estimates and shares fell as much as 19% in extended trading.

Coinbase reported first-quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates after the bell on Tuesday. Shares fell as much as 19% in extended trading, before rebounding. The stock is now down about 14% after hours.

Here are the key numbers:

Loss per share (EPS): $1.98


Revenue: $1.17 billion, versus $1.48 billion expected, according to Refinitiv

Before the report, the stock had lost more than 60% of its value since late March, as a broader slide in tech stocks and the value of cryptocurrencies hit Coinbase particularly hard. Bitcoin dropped below the symbolic price threshold of $30,000 on Monday.

Overall, usage declined from the fourth quarter. Retail monthly transaction users (MTUs) fell to 9.2 million, down from 11.4 million in the fourth quarter, while total trading volume dropped from $547 billion in Q4 to $309 billion.

The company’s revenue dropped 27% from a year ago, and it also reported a net loss of $430 million in the first quarter.

But Coinbase doesn’t appear to be worried about its long-term prospects. The company doubled down on an argument that it has made before, reminding shareholders that its stock should be thought of as a long-term investment due to the volatile nature of cryptocurrency price moves.

“We believe these market conditions are not permanent and we remain focused on the long-term,” the company wrote in a letter to shareholders accompanying its earnings release. It also said that it’s focusing on the next generation of crypto opportunities beyond trading.

“While we continue to invest and enhance our core investment platform, the application era of crypto is upon us, led by NFDs and decentralized finance, and we are increasingly focusing our efforts on these market opportunities.”

Increased spending also helped to drag down the company’s bottom line.

General and administrative expenses were $414 million, up 39% compared to the prior quarter. Coinbase attributed the rise to higher expenses related to full-time and contractor-related headcount. The purpose of that spending, according to the company, was to “invest to strengthen and scale our customer support, legal, compliance, and business support functions.”

Overall operating expenses came in at $1.72 billion, outstripping revenue for the first time since the company began reporting finances publicly.

While Coinbase had previously disclosed plans to increase headcount, operating expenses jumping nearly 70% in six months does suggest the company is still spending like it is in hypergrowth phase, even though users and transaction volume dipped between quarters.

Coinbase (COIN) earnings Q1 2022 (cnbc.com)

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From: Glenn Petersen5/11/2022 10:43:05 AM
   of 87
 
Coinbase earnings were bad. Worse still, the crypto exchange is now warning that bankruptcy could wipe out user funds

BY NICHOLAS GORDON
Fortune
May 11, 2022 1:59 AM CDT

Hidden away in Coinbase Global’s disappointing first-quarter earnings report—in which the U.S.'s largest cryptocurrency exchange reported a quarterly loss of $430 million and a 19% drop in monthly users—is an update on the risks of using Coinbase’s service that may come as a surprise to its millions of users.

In the event the crypto exchange goes bankrupt, Coinbase says, its users might lose all the cryptocurrency stored in their accounts too.

Coinbase said in its earnings report Tuesday that it holds $256 billion in both fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies on behalf of its customers. Yet the exchange noted that in the event it ever declared bankruptcy, “the crypto assets we hold in custody on behalf of our customers could be subject to bankruptcy proceedings.” Coinbase users would become “general unsecured creditors,” meaning they have no right to claim any specific property from the exchange in proceedings. Their funds would become inaccessible.

That shouldn’t happen.
An individual’s ownership of cryptocurrency is supposed to be immutable and absolute; that's one of the key selling points touted by blockchain evangelists everywhere. But when a user creates a Coinbase account, they often end up storing their cryptocurrency in a wallet controlled by Coinbase, which means the individual is giving away at least part of their control over their own funds.
Access to a crypto wallet is governed by a private key, which is a long string of characters that effectively acts as a password. Without the key, the cryptocurrency in the wallet can’t be accessed. On Coinbase, the exchange holds the private key and lets users access the funds within the wallet using a more conventional password. The setup makes it easier for users to enter their accounts, by remembering an easier password.

Yet it means that when push comes to shove, Coinbase ultimately governs whether a user gets access to those assets.

In comments shared on Twitter, Coinbase CEO and founder Brian Armstrong said the exchange had “no risk of bankruptcy,” and that the disclosure was made due to new rules set by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding public companies that hold crypto assets on behalf of others.

“This disclosure makes sense in that these legal protections have not been tested in court for crypto assets specifically, and it is possible, however unlikely, that a court would decide to consider customer assets as part of the company in bankruptcy proceedings even if it harmed consumers,” Armstrong tweeted, while reassuring users that “your funds are safe at Coinbase.”

Coinbase does offer a self-custody wallet, titled “ Coinbase Wallet,” in which users know their private key, and a Coinbase Wallet—or any crypto wallet—is not required to trade crypto on Coinbase. But by admitting that crypto assets aren't secure in the event of a bankruptcy, Coinbase is also highlighting a major difference between storing your funds with blockchain exchanges, versus keeping cash with traditional banks.

Bank accounts in the U.S. are protected by deposit insurance offered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. In the event a bank fails, the FDIC steps in to protect deposits up to $250,000, preventing depositors from going broke along with the bank. Crypto exchanges don't offer that same protection—which is the primary reason why crypto enthusiasts advise investors to hold their cryptocurrency in a personal wallet, rather than on an exchange.

Coinbase shares fell 15.6% in after-hours trading after the exchange released its earnings, dragging the crypto exchange's stock price down to 80% below its Nasdaq debut in April 2021. Besides reporting a declining user base and lower than expected revenue, trading volume on the Coinbase exchange declined from $547 billion to $309 billion in the first quarter, over the same period last year. Coinbase warned that trading volume was likely to decline further in the current quarter

Coinbase admits users may lose crypto if exchange goes bankrupt | Fortune

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To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (66)5/11/2022 11:45:42 AM
From: Glenn Petersen
   of 87
 
Crypto Winter May Be Harsh for Coinbase

The company plans to invest even if crypto activity continues to fall, but investors may not have the same patience

By Telis Demos
Heard on the Street
Wall Street Journal

May 11, 2022 11:34 am ET

The weather is getting warmer outside, but Coinbase Global COIN -24.49% is settling in for a tough winter.

Even before the drop in the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies this month, Coinbase COIN -22.75% was recording a big decline in activity on its platform in the first quarter, the company reported on Tuesday.

The number of monthly transacting users fell more than 2 million from the fourth quarter to the first, to 9.2 million. Trading volume slid by 44% over that period and total transaction revenue was 56% lower. The company said crypto volatility continued to decline into April, hitting the lowest level since mid-2020, and it expects lower monthly transacting users and trading volumes in the second quarter.

The company has long been anticipating another possible deep-freeze period for crypto activity. Chief Executive Brian Armstrong said on the company’s earnings call on Tuesday that Coinbase has been through crypto’s past cycles, and that he now sees an opportunity to focus on building for the future rather than scrambling to keep up with frenzied activity. “Ironically, I’ve never been more bullish on where we are as a company,” he said.

Investors in the company could use a dose of whatever is making him so optimistic, though, as Coinbase shares have lost around three-quarters of their value so far this year. Given that it is so difficult to predict the crypto cycle, when it might turn and how big the next wave will be, investors need to look to other measures of the company’s underlying economics. One silver lining is that the retail fee rate—or how much retail transaction revenue is generated as a percentage of retail trading volume—actually rose over the first quarter from the fourth. There has long been concern that this rate, now at 1.31%, would sharply drop over time. The fact that it hasn’t may be an indicator that Coinbase’s relatively established brand is worth something to customers, and that its pricing strategies are working.

Still, that resilience was counterbalanced in the quarter by a decline in the rates institutions paid. Institutional transacting makes up the bulk of Coinbase’s volume, though it generates a fraction of the revenue that retail does. The institutional fee rate fell over the course of the first quarter, which the company attributed to a change in the fee structure for market makers. Institutional trading also represented an even bigger share of volume than in recent quarters.

There is the long-term potential of expanding the business in nontrading crypto activities. For brokerages in traditional assets, one way to offset a decline in active trading is by offering passive, higher-yield investment products, or paying interest on cash to keep attracting assets while earning more on lending. Robinhood Markets this week said it would raise the interest rate available on uninvested cash to 1%.

The number of Coinbase users engaged with yield-generation products rose from 3.6 million to 5.8 million during the most recent quarter, which the company said was largely driven by the launch of “staking” in the Cardano blockchain network. Staking is a way to earn a form of yield by getting rewards for participating in a network. On average in the first quarter, more than half of monthly transacting users were using products beyond trading, such as staking, the company said. Nontransaction subscription and services revenue fell 29% from the fourth quarter to the first, though it was still close to triple what it was a year ago.

Still, the future potential of crypto yield has its own uncertainties. For one, there are the regulators: Coinbase didn’t launch an anticipated yield-paying lending product last year after the Securities and Exchange Commission threatened enforcement action. It isn’t yet clear how or in what form such offerings may return. People also can seek yield in the wider “decentralized finance” ecosystem, but some may be more reluctant to do so after the volatility surrounding TerraUSD. Among the drivers of the algorithmic stablecoin’s recent growth was its use in a lending protocol that allowed investors to earn returns of nearly 20% annually.

Coinbase may be smart to plant seeds for growth before winter arrives. But investors shouldn’t start dreaming of spring flowers yet.

Crypto Winter May Be Harsh for Coinbase - WSJ

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