Coinbase, one of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency exchanges, is facing a major backlash after wild swings in the prices of bitcoin and Ethereum. The San Francisco-based company has been accused of insider trading and market manipulation and is now being investigated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Coinbase was founded in 2012 and is one of the most well-funded startups in the cryptocurrency space. The company allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies and also provides a wallet for storing them.
In the past 24 hours, the prices of both bitcoin and Ethereum have swung wildly on Coinbase, with the latter’s price at one point plunging by over 20%. The swings have been attributed to a change in Coinbase’s policy on how it treats “ forks” or splits in the blockchain.
Forks can happen when there is a disagreement among developers about how the blockchain should be run. If a fork happens, there are two versions of the blockchain – one that follows the old rules, and one that follows the new rules.
Coinbase had previously said that it would only support one version of a forked blockchain, but yesterday it changed its policy. The new policy states that Coinbase will support both versions of a forked blockchain if there is “sufficient community support”.
The change in policy led to a huge spike in the price of Ethereum Classic, which is the version of Ethereum that follows the old rules. The price of Ethereum Classic surged by over 50%
Coinbase customers facing issues
Customers of Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, are facing issues with the platform. Wild price swings in bitcoin and Ethereum have caused problems for customers trying to buy or sell the coins. Some have even reported losing money due to the fluctuations.
The situation highlights the risks associated with investing in cryptocurrencies. While the potential rewards are high, the volatility of the market can cause problems for investors. Those who are not careful could end up losing a lot of money very quickly.
Coinbase has been struggling to keep up with demand from customers during the recent price swings. The exchange has been hit by a number of outages, and many customers have complained about not being able to access their funds.
The issues at Coinbase are a reminder that investing in cryptocurrencies is a risky proposition. Those who do so should be prepared for wild price swings that could cause them to lose money.
Bitcoin and Ethereum prices swing wildly
Coinbase has been having a tough time lately. First, it was hit with a massive data breach that exposed the personal information of tens of thousands of its users. Then, it was forced to suspend trading in Ethereum Classic due to "irregularities" in the blockchain. And now, it's dealing with wild swings in the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The price swings are being caused by a number of factors, including a major sell-off of Bitcoin and Ethereum by a large holder, and uncertainty around the future of regulation in the cryptocurrency space. Coinbase has been forced to deal with all of this while also trying to keep its users safe and their funds secure.
It's been a nightmare for Coinbase, and it looks like it's only going to get worse before it gets better.
Coinbase makes changes to customer accounts
Coinbase, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has made some changes to customer accounts that have caused a lot of uproars. The changes, which were made without any prior warning, have resulted in many users being unable to access their funds.
The problem seems to be affecting mostly users who had stored their cryptocurrencies on Coinbase’s platform using the “vault” feature. This feature is supposed to provide extra security for user funds by requiring multiple approvals for withdrawals. However, it seems that the recent changes to customer accounts have disabled this feature, leaving users’ funds vulnerable.
Coinbase has not yet provided a clear explanation for why these changes were made or why they were not communicated to customers beforehand. This has led to a lot of speculation and confusion, and many users are understandably angry.
It remains to be seen how this story will develop, but it is certainly not a good look for Coinbase. If they don’t resolve this situation quickly and effectively, they could lose a lot of business.
Coinbase CEO attempts to explain the situation
It's been a tough few days for Coinbase.
After a wild weekend of price swings in the cryptocurrency markets, the San Francisco-based company found itself at the center of a social media firestorm.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong took to the blog section of the website to attempt to explain the situation and quell the anger of customers.
"We have been monitoring the Ethereum network over the last few days and are investigating the underlying cause of today’s incident," Armstrong wrote. "At this time, we have not seen any unusual activity on the Coinbase platform."
The CEO went on to say that the company is "working hard" to improve things and that they will "continue to communicate honestly and openly with our community."
It remains to be seen if this will be enough to placate the angry customers, but it's clear that the Coinbase team is taking this seriously.
Conclusion
Coinbase has been having a tough time lately, to say the least. First, they were caught in the middle of the whole SegWit2x hard fork drama. Now, they're dealing with wild price swings in both Bitcoin and Ethereum — two of the most popular cryptocurrencies on their exchange. And it doesn't look like things are going to get any better anytime soon. So if you're thinking about using Coinbase to buy or sell cryptocurrency, you might want to think twice.