Whats that spread look like? I don't dislike placing orders at $xxx,420.69 and watching them fill. Or waking up to see my low order filled and it's rebounded already....
Honestly, if Coinbase is cheapest, and you aren't tempted by the shitcoins, then that's great for you.
I would prefer to support Jack over Brian, even if it means I pay a marginally higher fee, but there are also other Bitcoin-only options, such as nostr:npub1xkere5pd94672h8w8r77uf4ustcazhfujkqgqzcykrdzakm4zl4qeud0en . Their fees might be more competitive.
I use Strike because of one simple feature that no one else has, so far as I know: I can pay for things with my fiat balance and the receiver gets sats. So, when I buy soap from my man nostr:npub1zzmxvr9sw49lhzfx236aweurt8h5tmzjw7x3gfsazlgd8j64ql0sexw5wy, and I know he'd rather have sats, but I'd rather spend fiat, I just move some USD over to Strike and pay him from there. Win/win.
You can send anyone sats directly from your fiat balance, without having to "buy" Bitcoin first, including yourself. Theoretically, this breaks the probabilistic link between your name and those sats. Strike has no idea who you are sending those sats to when you spend from your fiat balance via lightning. You could be paying a merchant, sending fiat to a friend, or sending it to yourself.
If you send it from Strike as fiat, and receive it on the other end as sats, you've effectively converted fiat to sats without it showing as a "purchase" in any exchange's books.
Discussion
Spread between what? The price I paid and some imaginary authoritative price at that exact moment?