Coinbase made an announcement that it had resumed operations after a system-wide outage that lasted for over three hours, affecting its website, mobile app, and API. However, numerous customers took to social media to dispute this claim. Many users reported that they were still unable to withdraw their funds from the platform, despite the alleged resolution of the issue.
Customer Complaints
One Coinbase user, Nigel Dias, shared his experience of trying to send his crypto assets but being met with a message stating, “Sending to this recipient is temporarily disabled.” This contradictory situation between Coinbase’s statement and customers’ experiences raises concerns about the transparency and effectiveness of the platform’s operations.
Following the outage, Coinbase provided updates through its status page, mentioning that the incident started around 4:19 am UTC and was supposedly resolved by 07:42 am UTC. The platform acknowledged that users faced difficulties in sending crypto or withdrawing fiat during the outage period, categorizing the service as degraded. However, it admitted that some customers might still encounter connectivity issues, promising to address them promptly.
Despite the frequency of service disruptions, Coinbase has not disclosed the reasons behind this outage or presented a compensation plan for affected users. The recent incident adds to the string of disruptions the exchange has faced in recent months. As per the status page data, Coinbase recorded 14 incidents in the current month, following 29 incidents in April and 36 in March, indicating a troubling trend of operational instability.
Market Impact
Interestingly, Coinbase’s outage coincided with a drop in Bitcoin’s price from $62,660 to $61,400, with a subsequent recovery to $61,780 at the time of reporting. This price fluctuation resulted in approximately $50 million in liquidations within four hours, primarily affecting long traders. The correlation between Coinbase’s technical issues and significant market movements underscores the platform’s influence on the broader cryptocurrency market.
Coinbase’s recent resumption of operations following a system-wide outage raises questions about the platform’s reliability, transparency, and commitment to user satisfaction. The lack of clarity regarding the outage causes further distrust among customers, especially considering the frequent disruptions experienced in recent months. Moving forward, Coinbase must prioritize addressing these operational challenges, providing transparent communication, and implementing measures to prevent future incidents to regain user trust and confidence in its services.