Crypto exchange Coinbase recently encountered a technical issue on March 4, leaving some users with an empty balance in their accounts. The problem was identified at 5:36 pm UTC, with Coinbase acknowledging that a “small subset of users may see intermittent zero balance across their Coinbase accounts and latency across pages.” Although trading was not impacted at the time, the incident caused concern among affected users.
Coinbase took immediate action to address the issue, implementing a fix around 6:21 pm UTC – approximately three hours after the problem was initially reported. The exchange continued to monitor the situation and confirmed that the problem was fully resolved by 8:29 pm UTC. This quick response demonstrated Coinbase’s commitment to resolving technical issues promptly and ensuring the security of user assets.
Notably, this was not the first time Coinbase encountered such an issue. Just five days prior, on Feb. 28, users faced a similar situation where their account balances showed zero and they were unable to buy or sell assets. Despite resolving the problem within seven hours, Coinbase has yet to identify the root cause of these incidents. However, the company mentioned that increased traffic was a contributing factor in the Feb. 28 incident.
Despite these technical challenges, Coinbase reported a surge in trading volume, with $7.5 billion in trading volume over a 24-hour period, reflecting a 120% daily increase. This spike in trading activity can be attributed to Bitcoin’s exceptional price performance, with the cryptocurrency reaching $67,481 as of 10:20 pm UTC on March 4, just $1,563 below its all-time high in November 2021. The price of Bitcoin has seen a 7.1% increase over 24 hours and a 23.6% increase over the past week, indicating continued market interest in digital assets.
Despite the resolution of these incidents, speculation abounds regarding the underlying cause of the technical glitches. Some theories range from benign explanations to more nefarious motives. However, it is more likely that these issues are a byproduct of sudden surges in traffic resulting from the recent market rally. As cryptocurrency continues to attract mainstream attention, exchanges like Coinbase must be prepared to handle increased demand and address technical challenges promptly to maintain user trust and confidence.