Coinbase apologises for letting down users over frozen funds

The most popular cryptocurrency platform for Britons has finally publicly addressed problems some customers have faced in being locked out of their accounts and unable to access their money. 

In a blog post published on Friday Casper Sorensen, the vice president for customer experience of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, apologised for letting users down and said the company was ‘doing everything in our power to turn the page.’

Coinbase’s customer services have been strained as investors have flocked to the platform during bitcoin’s record run, with the surge in the price of the cryptocurrency resulting in much more trading activity by both new and existing users.

This, along with requirements to source additional identity documents to comply with financial and money laundering regulations, has led to ‘many customers experiencing delays in our response time’, Mr Sorensen acknowledged.

‘Whether you’re a new user or have been with us since day one, we recognise this is frustrating. This is not the experience we want for you, our customers.’

Coinbase has previously addressed technical problems hampering users’ ability to buy and sell cryptocurrencies around the time the price of bitcoin briefly touched $40,000 earlier this month, but before Friday had yet to post anything about the verification and customer service problems which have affected customers for months.

In a post titled ‘Committing to better customer service during this time’ the exchange, which lets casual and institutional investors buy and sell cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and plans to become publicly listed on the US stock market, said it was expanding customer support services to meet the demand and would soon roll out a faster way for customers to get in contact.

This is Money has repeatedly reported on the problems customers have had with Britain’s most popular exchange and its customer services since last December. 

In issues dating back to the end of October customers have been told they need to re-upload identity documents to verify their accounts, only to be told they are ‘under review’.

Those who spoke to This is Money said they had been locked out of their accounts and unable to access funds gaining, or even losing, value or take advantage of a rapid surge in the price of cryptocurrencies including bitcoin.

They also complained of long wait times and receiving no response from Coinbase despite submitting multiple complaints.

The problems appear to be continuing. One customer, Tim, a Coinbase user since 2017, contacted us only nine days ago to complain he has been locked out of his account with £1,000 in it.

Meanwhile Coinbase’s latest status update on its website reports issues with identity verification as recently as 13 January, stating ‘some customers may experience a delay with ID verification. We’ll update as we know more.’

It previously told This is Money in a statement earlier this month: ‘Unfortunately, we’re aware that some customers are still having issues accessing their Coinbase accounts. These customers, often for no fault of their own, are being hit by a confluence of factors.

‘As a regulated financial services company, we’re required to maintain rigorous compliance standards in line with other financial institutions in the UK.

‘To ensure compliance with recent regulations, we’ve had to seek additional documentation or information from some customers. While we appreciate that this is a burden for some, it’s our responsibility to meet the standards set by regulators.

‘In addition to this, over the past two months we’ve seen a sustained market rally that has brought a significant number of new customers onto our platform and re-engaged many existing, yet passive, customers.

‘These two factors combined have led to an unacceptable lag in our customer support response times.’