Bitcoin Forum

Multiple reports of funny business going on with Coinbase.
https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed/status/1426303971656970241/photo/1

Seems like that there is a lot of changes rolling in now that Coinbase has went public.

They are a lot less lax with compliance related stuff now, which is understandable. But it does mean that if you have any sort of preexisting concerns regarding the verification process and the like, it will be a lot harder to convince them to speed things up/go an alternative route.

Can't really blame them for that, although their customer service has always been disgustingly slow.

If you read the story it's not about coins but USD the person wanted to cashout to his US bank acocunt. He has been able to transfer out the coins but the money is flying somewhere...

Well, whatever, nothing new with Coinbase. It's not something that happen at a large scale but a lot of similar cases can be seen quite frequently.
Exemple: https://www.reddit.com/r/CoinBase/search/?q=withdraw&restrict_sr=1
Coinbase isn't a platform you can rely on. Everything works fine, until you wake up and start to see the problem yourself. As for the support: good luck dealing with it and the canned replies. You can consider yourself lucky if you got a real person taking really care of your problem.

This said, how many times we say "not your keys, not your coins", yet people don't want to listen to. Well, if they prefer to learn it by the hard way... Their problem, not mine...

In crypto for 5 years and keeps all his coins on a non-trustworthy exchange. Mistake one.
Reads constant stories about people having their accounts locked and funds seized and thinks "It won't happen to me." Mistake two.
Does nothing but buy coins on his account for 5 years, and never once tests withdrawing coins. Mistake three.
After 5 years of only buying, suddenly moves almost all of his coins off the exchange to "other places". Mistake four.

I would attribute equal amounts of blame to Coinbase and the user in question here. Obviously Coinbase is a terrible exchange with non-existent customer support and you should never keep your coins on it, but even if you had a fiat bank account that you did nothing but deposit to for 5 years and then suddenly tried to empty, they would probably block your withdrawal until they investigate it a bit more.

I know we're supposed to hate Coinbase, but compared to the rest of US fiat banking system - and let's face it, the main reason to use Coinbase is for its fiat services - I have found it to be not significantly worse or better in my 7 years of using it, at least not worth doing KYC again to switch to some other exchange. Here's the good part: Coinbase is under purview of CFPB and if you have a well-documented case they will grill Coinbase until you get your money back. That's where I would go instead of Twitter or Reddit.

I still think that it is difficult for coinbase to scam you, but if you want to withdraw your coins or keep your bitcoins, there is no reason to leave them in any platform.
The problem of people dealing with platforms is the same as they deal with the bank, which is blind trust and complete control of money, which is a wrong thing, especially since many platforms do not deserve this trust and all they care about is making you buy more and problems start when you decide to withdraw.

1. Most of his coins should have been on HW, not at Coinbase.
2. Cashing out should have been gradual and with no big amounts on other services' hands.

The fact the account got closed by Coinbase means that OP (the really original one) did something they didn't like. Or maybe he didn't and they've made a mistake. Or they're evil. Whatever. He has the legal ways to handle this. Posting it online won't help him imho.

I prefer to not give anyone the chance to do this to me. Not on amounts like 20k USD. It's easier, especially since I'm not from a country with strong legal system.

Maybe this is related with recent push by regulators, but what a terrible idea to hold his coins on Coinbase or any other exchange for five years, and then just expecting that you could cash out anytime you want.
This is worse than a having bank account frozen, because you had a choice of holding coins on your own wallet and you could use decentralized exchanges like Bisq or P2P trading for cashing out.
I also see reports that people have problem withdrawing other coins and not just cash, so it could be a much bigger problem with Coinbase exchange.

Apparently it's thousands now
https://twitter.com/CryptoWhale/status/1426394158365921281?s=20
Not your keys, not your coin.
If you cannot spend your bitcoin without permission it is not your bitcoin.

A common problem. Open an account - no problem. Link a payment method - no problem. Deposit some fiat - no problem. Buy some bitcoin - no problem. Withdraw that bitcoin - hold on a second! We need selfies and documentation of all your income for the last 3 years!

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if most big exchanges, not just Coinbase, are fractional reserve at this point. Huobi (the second largest exchange in volume) have been caught using users' deposits for investments, loans, and other purposes, without their knowledge and consent. If you are sitting on a million bitcoin as Coinbase claim they are, then it's just good business sense to use that to make more money. Not so good for you customers, though. Also easily done when your cold storage is deliberately structured so it is impossible for any outside entity to identify how many coins you are holding.

I would never hold my coins on Coinbase or any other centralized exchanges, even if they claim to be super secure.
Here is one case example that was reported today on CNBC tv, hackers doing sim swaps and wiping out Coinbase customer accounts.
Funny thing is that this Vidovic family from Florida is known for other complains before (wife is a firefighter, husband is working as a nurse...).
Women was fired from Tampa Fire Rescue few years ago, then she sued them and won the case with $251,000, so I am suspecting she is going to sue Coinbase next.
CNBS video report:
https://youtu.be/fstco5_sS4g

Same case of Coinbase hacks with more details explained from May 2021 ABC Action News:
https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local-news/i-team-investigates/cryptocurrency-accounts-wiped-out-in-an-instant-by-cyber-crooks