Coinbase Faces Major Outage as Trading Volume Skyrockets; Users Stunned as Account Balances Hit US$0

Coinbase, one of the largest and most popular cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, faced another technical outage on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, as the crypto market experienced a massive surge in trading volume and price. Some users reported seeing US$0 balances in their accounts, while others experienced errors in buying or selling cryptocurrencies.

According to Coinbase's official support account on Twitter, the exchange was aware of the issue and was working to resolve it as soon as possible. The account also assured users that their funds were safe, and that trading was not impacted at the time.

However, this did not stop the crypto community from expressing their frustration and dissatisfaction with the exchange, which has been plagued by frequent outages and glitches in the past. Some users accused Coinbase of being incompetent, unreliable, and unprepared for the growing demand and activity in the crypto space. Others urged users to withdraw their funds from the exchange and switch to alternative platforms.

This is the second time in less than a week that Coinbase has faced a similar issue. On February 28, 2024, the exchange also suffered a glitch that left many users seeing US$0 balances in their accounts. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong attributed the problem to a huge surge in traffic that exceeded the exchange's expectations and capacity. He said that the exchange was working on improving its scalability and performance to avoid such incidents in the future.

The latest outage coincided with a period of intense market activity and bullish sentiment in the crypto space, as the price of Bitcoin approached an all-time high of over US$70,000. The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies also reached a new record of over US$2.3 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap. The increased interest and demand for cryptocurrencies have put a strain on the infrastructure and services of many exchanges, leading to technical difficulties and delays.

Coinbase, which is preparing for a public listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange, has been one of the most affected by these challenges. The exchange, which has over 43 million users and handles over US$300 billion in trading volume per quarter, has faced several outages and glitches in the past year, especially during periods of high volatility and activity in the crypto market. These incidents have damaged the reputation and trust of the exchange among its users and the crypto community, as well as raised questions about its readiness and suitability for going public.