Bitcoin Forum

just a warning take care


The popular online Bitcoin wallet Coinbase has been routinely seizing accounts of users in Hawaii and Wyoming, effectively “stealing” their Bitcoins by locking them out of their accounts. A Natural News investigation confirms that Coinbase is citing obscure state laws in its decision to seize accounts of users in both states, yet the online wallet refuses to allow users to log in and change their state of residence if they move to another state.



http://www.govtslaves.com/bitcoin-wallet-coinbase-now-seizing-accounts-of-americans-users-rage-against-total-ripoff-as-their-coinbase-accounts-vanish/

If this is true it is theft,how can a company decides to close down the account simply because they are from one particular state,they must warn the users and let them withdraw the coins and ask them not to use it rather than closing their account and stealing their coins,this is the main reason why everyone is telling to keep your coins in your own wallet and never trust any web wallets.

I've read about Coinbase sending emails and posting articles about people needing to make a Bitcoin withdrawal from their website or they will lose their money because Coinbase won't allow specific states in their business any further from some specific date that they posted. Coinbase is working with the IRS so I am not surprised that they are trying to cheat people.

This seems quite nasty for such a good online wallet that is trusted by many, further more I used it so often and if this is true it would be quite disheartening to see such services drop due to greed(?). MtGox, Cryptsy, I don't want CoinBase to be the same.

On a side note, withdrawing from CoinBase is probably recommended now that all this is happening. :(

I don't think Coinbase is going to be doing this randomly without any sort of investigation on their part, that'd simply be dumb and without any bit of reason when it comes to the law. If they were to be doing this sort of stuff, they'd probably face a ton of lawsuits and more and more regulations from state/federal governments which I highly doubt they're going to want. I think the people that are coming out saying that their accounts have been closed have actually done something shady / downright illegal with the money on their.

It's coinbases duty to ensure that nothing illegal is occuring with the money that could be laundered through them so they're really just protecting themselves.

Wyoming:Coinbase suspended them Jun 24, 2016 due to state regulations:
https://support.coinbase.com/customer/portal/articles/1999937-coinbase-accounts---wyoming

Hawaii: May 1, 2017:
https://support.coinbase.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2754027-coinbase-accounts---hawaii

Both let you remove bitcoin etc from them.  While it is popular to blame coinbase, the people impacted should thank the voters in Hawaii and Wyoming:
https://blog.coinbase.com/how-bad-policy-harms-coinbase-customers-in-hawaii-ac9970d49b34

There is a lot of fiction and fantasy going around, but wouldn't it be better to read and understand at least some of it first?

- the first thing negative that i heard about coinbase was them helping to catch KickAss owner by releasing all his transactions.
- second thing was the drama with the IRS and the possibility of them already giving all the information of their users to IRS.
- and now this plus all the new US laws regarding cryptocurrencies.

sometimes i pitty Americans with their laws...

and meanwhile in Japan they are becoming more and more friendly towards bitcoin and bitcoin users!

So much for land of the free, America seem to be clamping down left, right and centre

I would like to give CB the benefit of the doubt here. I feel like this WOULD REALLY hurt their rep.

I find it hard to believe

It does not really matter though. Since Bitcoin is not a website that can only be used if the people visit a certain server the whole Bitcoin network will stay alive and if people really wanted to purchase Bitcoin then they would do so through things like LocalBitcoins, Purse, etc.

Coinbase is just looking bad for no real reason, they aren't really "For the people."

One of my buddies got his account banned from Coinbase. Did absolutely nothing wrong. We both researched what could have happened. Found nothing.

He started going through Coinbase terms and agreements. Since he used his debit card on a online gambling site, Coinbase banned his account.

I a firm believer that coinbase doesnt just Ban account for no reason.

There were many allegations on coinbase before and there will be in the future. The Wyoming and Hawai state issue is with their problem in crypto currencies. Coinbase have given them the chance to transfer their BTC and there is nothing wrong with coinbase in this issue.

cr1776 bringing reason to the table. The boring truth is always such a buzz kill.  :D

And I like that the source is "http://www.govtslaves.com/", sounds legit.  ::)

I read report  of this kind on some bitcoin/crypto related blog but is it legit? I think this is not confirmed yet and we can brand this as speculation or something fraud is happening. Hope coindesk can address this bad news.

If that is true, its very alarming coinbase is one of the most used wallet but now they are turning into rubbers. I used coinbase before glad that i transfered.

Can they really view your transactions on other sites on your debit card? Without knowing a lot, this seems quite farfetched

Please change the subject field, because it does not reflect the truth. It should read, " COINBASE stop access to people from

Hawaii and Wyoming "  They cannot allow people to use their service, if the state is against it. Blame the politicians, not the service. We have seen

the same from some Gambling services too. They open themselves up to legal issues, if they do.  >:(

Did you know that if you throw $1M dollars in cash into the streets people will rush and take them all?
Then you should know that if you don't have access to your private keys then you own no Bitcoin.
Did you know how babies come to this world? lol stop making me go full pervert in these situations.
Did you know earth revolves around the sun, or are you a flat earth bat shit crazy?
I've sent some Bitcoins to "investment" sites back in the day when I was a total NOOB, and I'm still hoping the scammers come around and give me back my coins.
When you are using Coinbase you are trusting your coins to them, are you always trust whatever is under your pants to strangers specially if you are a girl? you should stop doing that so people would stop calling you a whore. 3 lolz

I don't know about that... I've had a very negative experience with coinbase holding my funds and closing my account after a couple of days because I made a deposit to a Bitcoin casino.
Just look for stories from other users that have encountered the same. I will personally never use Coinbase again, I'll just stick with Kraken and Bitstamp.

True.  Coinbase is not seizing accounts, nor is it doing anything particularly malicious.

However, you have to wonder what exactly happens to those coins that aren't claimed within the required period.  When people hold Bitcoin, they don't have to actively monitor it all the time - while I realise that Coinbase had little choice but to suspend Hawaiian accounts, I cringe a little to think they could be gaining a lot of money from people who didn't claim in time.  Bitcoin holders like to feel safe that they can forget for a year or two and their coins would be safe.
It's nothing like that.  A comparison that I would actually make is putting money in a bank - the intermediary is trusted more than random people on the street, but Bitcoin is supposed to get rid of these intermediaries, so I'd call it a middle ground between terrible and normal Bitcoin.

This is an interesting question and I think it would be illegal for coinbase to profit from their users in this way. My guess is all one would have to do is send CB a a letter or email asking for a way to withdraw their funds. Otherwise I'm sure lawyers would have a field day with this.

Yet another reason to avoid doing financial transactions within the United States. I wonder if Kraken and other exchanges will start to bend over for Uncle Sam.

Watch the enter key, you don't need to lean on it when you're making a new thread.

I'm surprised that Coinbase is making such a move and it doesn't exactly make sense as to why they're going around and seizing accounts. It's not something that really makes sense but considering the operating history of Coinbase I want to be not surprised that they're going around and doing things like this.

I'd like to see the state laws that they're referencing. Maybe I'll dive deeper but it could relate to the recent law imposed by Congress.

This is day light robbery. Can't say what must have really caused this though but it sounds so terrible. I wonder why bitcoin users are still using coinbase with all these issues. Either server is down today, or a technical issue tomorrow, unable to access account next tomorrow and so on and so forth. Their reputation isn't really getting any good.

Well, looking deeper into the story this makes sense. Although Coinbase should be allowing for users to at least remove their Bitcoin from the service and put it somewhere else, they are trying to comply with laws being passed within the respective states and there is nothing that can really be done to fix something like that.
It all comes down to seeing how much government control will be permitted within the community before everyone has enough. The various US government institutions will apparently stretch it as far as it will go, and it might result in the community becoming too apathetic to care.

This is disturbing.
Yes, are there any alternatives to coinbase that don't require all the kyc/id requirements?

You can use blockchain.info wallet if you want and also there are many wallets out there where you can store your bitcoin. The best thing to do now is to withdraw all funds from coinbase, this is a bad sign if they really started doing this. It is not good for such a good service do something like this to their customers just because they reside in Hawaii and Wyoming.

If the US goverment says don't allow the 2 states access then that's what that company is going to do or they will risk being shut down completely. I imagine that each member probably got a email telling them of the reverse of membership allowance and Coinbase asked them to withdraw all coin before a deadline.

I agree, I feel like there is more to the story than this

Why do people let counter parties control the private keys to their crypto?

I don't see as to why Coinbase would do this. They have no reason to do so. Why does it matter as to which state that you live in? If you have internet you should be able to access Coinbase. Maybe Bitcoin is banned in these areas. Or maybe it is a hack.

Is this article reliable? If it is Coinbase is literally stealing the Bitcoin off the users. Anyways, I am going to stay away from Coinbase for a while.

Cherry picking individual parts of a bigger story/problem to make a company look bad.

Put this thread into either service discussion or exchanges because it's not really a discussion about bitcoin itself.

Coinbase has a history of suspending accounts but never in the history of its existence i don't think that it started to target geo-specific people, so this is a first. I know that friends of mine had their coinbase account suspended for gambling related activity and dark net market deposits, but none of them have ever experienced a problem apart from that.

Coinbase has no advantage over a normal wallet right now because you have to pay fees. If you like the convenience, download the copay wallet. It's way more secure and you don't need to trust anyone as its open source.

they can if they find suspicious activity, maybe some of those account were stolen or they were using stolen debit card falese bank account

remember that coinbase is in touch with IRS, you can't cheat there, i think they are just investigating

The title is misleading people into thinkinng coinbase is the one to blame. The one to blame are those states and coinbase needs to obey otherwise it can lead to some more serious problems for the company. If they are realling locking accounts because of the states i would not call it "stealing" bitcoins. Citing obscure state laws in its decision to seize accounts of users can easily be verified. I don't think coinbase would block account just for fun

Are you serious,banning your account and taking your coins just because you used your debit card for gambling,what difference does it make for them if you are gambling with your money and not using the bitcoin stored in the site,so what was the final result,did they release the coins.

Not really necessary at this point, honestly.
Coinbase doesn't need any help to look bad right now.
The company is literally falling apart.
If you have coins here move them to another wallet or exchange NOW.

Coinbase is not a good wallet right now to choose many bitcoin users are having issue about using the service of coinbase started from january they are always failing even the support can't contact them easily. it takes longer time or weeks before they can responds and we are always experience site down they are always fixing any issue every time the price increased.. so for now much better to stay away to use coinbase and if you are holding bitcoin and altcoin there better to transfer funds to other safety wallet like other said before its late..

Yes this not the coinbase done anything wrong in this whole scenario but in fact the people used a coinbase accounts in the mentioned states shall be thankful to the coinbase that it didn’t blocked their accounts and provided them an opportunity to withdraw their coins. The rest the internal affairs of the state who have the right to decide the law and order situation.

If  they are seizing accounts for no reason except for baseless accusations then they deserve to get sued by their customers.
I also heard they have a class action lawsuit filed against them for unlawful practices by a few states.

This is the end of them. Yet another exchange gone by the way side. :-\

This is the whole new level of not giving a sh*t about their clients. >:(

Yes, in fact Coinbase is the entity recommending, even asking account holders that reside in Hawaii or Wyoming to transfer their bitcoin out of their Coinbase wallets to exchanges that can serve them properly. Coinbase also asks these users to close their accounts.

Here's the quote from the press release on the Coinbase website (HI specific): "We ask Hawaii customers to please: Remove any digital currency balance from your Coinbase Account. Please note that you may remove digital currency from your Coinbase Account either by selling digital currency on the buy/sell page of your Coinbase Account (ordinary fees and restrictions apply), or by sending your digital currency to an alternate digital currency wallet; AND Visit this page to close your Account. We understand this suspension will inconvenience our Hawaii customers and we apologize that we cannot currently project if or when our services may be restored."

It's sad that while Coinbase is doing the honest thing for its customers, i.e., notifying them of discontinuing service and suggesting people direct their funds elsewhere, so many forum members are being dishonest in their portrayal of the facts.




Where are the facts? There's only shared frustration that government is continuing to get in the way. If we start misrepresenting the facts we'll only hurt ourselves and this project.

If it is like so it is unfair. Yes they should at least be warned before seizing their accounts. Otherwise it can be considered as stealing their bitcoins. It is not only negative for the account holders but also for the company itself because if they keep doing such things no one will trust on them and it can be a serious harm to their business.

Yes there is no doubt that the people don’t understand the things while reading it and sometimes we even don’t go through the whole of the article and just pick a few line from it and them propagate them in a wrong sense. Also if we read the article properly we will come to know what exactly happened and what the company was liable at that time to do.

Well I think Bitcoin is a worldwide popular currency and now is using in all huge States and also in a lot of market so in this case making any prediction about it is just a fault. I don't think Coinbase going to be doing randomly without any sort of Investigation on other parts, that simply could be a claim without a bit of reason. if they were doing this kind of act, they would may be face a ton of law suits and regulation from the state government which is highly doubt they gonna want. its now their task to ensure that something illegal is not going to happen with the money invested.