Nikolas Sargeant
Zero Balances Cause Concern on Coinbase
On Feb. 28, Coinbase users were startled as they logged in to find their account balances at zero, sparking fears of a potential hack and fund theft. CEO Brian Armstrong assured users that their funds were secure, attributing the outage to an unexpected surge in traffic.
In multiple status updates on the Coinbase website, the company acknowledged the zero balance issue, along with difficulties in buying and selling. While improvements in customer trading were reported, increased traffic still posed potential errors for some customers in receiving funds and using certain payment methods.
The most recent update, at 13:05 Pacific Standard Time (PST), indicated the normalization of Coinbase.com activity, with ongoing monitoring for further updates. Armstrong, in a tweet, confirmed the recovery of the Coinbase app, citing a tested "10x surge in traffic," but acknowledged that the current situation surpassed the exchange's expectations.
Recurring Challenges for Coinbase
While Coinbase's operations return to normalcy, the crypto community noted a pattern of outages during Bitcoin price surges, a crucial time for traders seeking to capitalize on market gains. Similar technical issues have been observed in other major exchanges like Binance during market surges.
Coinbase and other platforms are grappling with the challenges of increased market activity, a situation exacerbated by Bitcoin's recent surge to nearly $64,000, although it has slightly retraced to over $61,000 at the time of this writing.
With the upcoming Bitcoin halving event expected in April 2024, coupled with other market factors, bullish sentiments are emerging. Analysts, investors, and traders are sharing price predictions for BTC, some projecting values as high as $21 million per Bitcoin.
