So I just got this email from Coinbase:<p>------<p>Hi xxx,<p>Coinbase just sent you 0.002329 BTC (worth $0.99 USD) using Coinbase.<p>Attached message:<p>Thank you for applying to YC in the most recent batch! We're sending $1 of bitcoin to everyone who applied.
Click here to sign in and view this transaction<p>Kind regards,<p>The Coinbase Team<p>------<p>It is very nice that they plan to give $1 to every applicant of the most recent YC batch, but I certainly did not applied for YC. I just sent them an email asking them if it is a mistake. In the mean time, I am curious if anyone else here got a similar message. Did you actually have applied to YC's last batch?<p>P.S.: someone asks question about whether this email is from Coinbase.<p>screenshot of email content:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2qx0SXGdTVZNzBUWGYxVGZzaWs<p>transactional detail on Coinbase:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2qx0SXGdTVZci1KTUZMVVVsTFU<p>P.P.S.: aspHax0 below mentioned "I got this as well. However, I applied to be placed as an intern at a YC company over the summer.". I applied, too. That is certainly interesting.
Very sorry for the trouble on this, the blame goes squarely on me for this - those emails should never have gone out. YC had nothing to do with this, and it was completely our fault in using this private list for marketing purposes.<p>There is really no excuse other than poor judgement and rushed decisions. I apologize and we will make an effort to be much more careful about this in the future.
Isn't this kind of a privacy breach if it's true? Why does Coinbase get access to emails of people that have applied to YC? I'm not generally a data privacy zealot or anything, but that seems sketchy that YC would provide a batch list of emails to companies for what is essentially advertising/spam...
Can you confirm the amount given was actually deposited in your SSL-verified coinbase.com account?<p>I know coinbase users have been the target of some phishing emails lately.<p>EDIT: Do not use the link given in the email.<p>EDIT 2: Now that we know it's not a fake, let's just hear what Coinbase or YC have to say.
I received a similar email and have applied for an internship sometime during March. YC did mention they received over 1600 applications for it.<p>Pretty cool gesture.<p>Though, I think you are slightly luckier than I am because I received 0.002315 BTC :P
Allowing their applicant list to be used for unsolicited marketing seems out of character for YC.<p>Has either party confirmed this? I'm skeptical.
Yeah I got the email as well... And it's not spam it's legit because I opened and it actually got the balance... Equivalent to $1...
I had applied for both internship as well as YC so can't comment at to which one triggered it but the mail mentions the application and not internship..
Probably spam/phishing. When in doubt, look at the full smtp headers (or at least post them so that we can look at them).<p><a href="https://toolbox.googleapps.com/apps/messageheader/" rel="nofollow">https://toolbox.googleapps.com/apps/messageheader/</a>
It has probably been given to the guys that have applied for the internship earlier this March (at least that't when I gave that email address to YC)