Crypto
Coinbase Fixing ‘Outages’ After Users Report Seeing $0 Account Balances During Bitcoin Rally
Topline
Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., experienced significant outages and errors that caused some user accounts to show a $0 balance and prevented some users from logging in at all on Wednesday afternoonâshortly after bitcoinâs value rose above $60,000, its highest mark since 2021.
Coinbase said their âapps were now recoveringâ after the frightening outages.
Key Facts
Users began reporting the outages around 12 p.m., shortly after bitcoinâs historic rally.
Coinbase told Forbes in a statement that customers can now log in to the exchange once again, but users are still reporting errors in sending and receiving funds, as well as errors with âsome payment methods.â
Coinbase confirmed that âsome users may see a zero balance across their Coinbase accounts & may experience errors in buying or selling,â but assured users that their assets were safe.
Shortly after 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the platformâs âapps are now recovering.â
The CEO said the outages were likely caused by a large surge of traffic following the bitcoin news Wednesday morning, noting that the exchange was prepared for a surge in use, but traffic still exceeded their expectations.
Key Background
Bitcoin has had a remarkable comeback in 2024. After reaching an all-time peak value of about $68,000 in November 2021, a series of crashes caused the cryptocurrencyâs value to plummet. The cryptocurrency was valued at less than $16,000 by November 2022. In January 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, allowing investment firms like Fidelity and BlackRock to offer customers investment vehicles that track the price of bitcoin. Bitcoin reached $57,000 on Tuesday and rose 7% higher on Wednesday to $61,000âthe first time the coin has been valued over $60,000 since 2021. After reports of the Coinbase outages began circulating on social media on Wednesday, Bitcoin lost about $2,800 in value it gained the same day, CNBC reported.
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