Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase published a statement addressing their U.K. and E.U. customers, apologizing for system outages and account restrictions. The company also recognized their customer support “has not been at the levels” expected.
High Flow of Incoming Customers
According to the public apology, the U.S.-based crypto company said customers from both regions have been facing transaction restrictions. However, Coinbase didn’t make a direct mea culpa for its global issues, that occured precisely when volatility and velocity increased in the crypto markets.
Coinbase blamed the recent “sustained market rally that has brought a significant number of new customers” onto the platform.
Moreover, Coinbase claims that the regulatory environment is not helpful in this situation:
Evolving regulatory requirements mean that we have to collect additional information from some of our customers, which has meant temporary restrictions being placed on their accounts as we request that information.
But the firm admitted that they could do “a better job in communicating” regulatory obligations and requirements to their customers. However, they didn’t provide full details on the matter in the statement.
As additional measures to deal with the issues, the crypto exchange detailed that they’ll prioritize pending customer information requests. Also, Coinbase will send push notifications and emails, asking for additional information to more quickly remove restrictions.
Another of the changes rolled out by the firm is the re-enabling of a feature exclusive for their U.K. customers:
We have re-enabled a feature that allows U.K. customers to directly convert crypto into fiat currency (GBP/EUR) and transfer it into their Paypal accounts.
Coinbase’s Background on System Outages
Coinbase’s system reliability is often on the radar when bitcoin (BTC) volatility heats up, especially when it reaches new all-time highs.
Over the last weekend, the San Francisco trading platform had an issue with “delayed transfers.” The day prior, it suffered from “delayed transfers and elevated error rate.”
In another instance on Monday, the analyst Willy Woo tweeted about the San Francisco exchange Coinbase and stated that “buys on Coinbase are not completing.” The issue this time happened amid a larger bitcoin price drop.
As of press time, while the platform is working well, some customers have been experiencing a delay with ID verification, according to Coinbase’s status page.
What are your thoughts on the Coinbase mea culpa? Let us know in the comments section below.
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