[2017-08-01] Coinbase Could Face Legal Battle For Leaving Out Bitcoin Cash

[tyz]

Coinbase Could Face Legal Battle For Leaving Out Bitcoin Cash

The decision by Coinbase not to offer the hard forked Bitcoin chain, in operation on August 1, to its customers could have legal implications as the exchange faces the ire of many feeling they are owed their Bitcoin Cash.

Coinbase, as one of the more popular Bitcoin exchanges, followed suit with a number of other competitors in announcing that it would not be supporting the hard fork currency of Bitcoin, known as Bitcoin Cash (BCC).

However, a prominent legal scholar with insight into these new technologies believes that Coinbase may be breaking common law property rules. Many customers of Coinbase have been irate as every one of them is entitled to an equal amount of the breakaway currency.

http://bitcoinist.com/coinbase-could-face-legal-battle-for-leaving-out-bitcoin-cash/

[Netnox]

If Coinbase is not crediting the users with the BCC which they deserve, then it is plain robbery. And right now, the BCC exchange rates are going at around BTC0.13 to BTC0.18 in Yobit. That means that Coinbase users are getting robbed of up to 18% of their funds.

[odolvlobo]

And so if I make my own fork and they don't support it, then that is also "plain robbery"?

[Coin-Keeper]

It doesn't seem like they should be forced to support ANY chain that they opt not to.  Its a free world business that establishes their own practices and procedures.  As a customer relations tool they would have been wise to email their intentions to ALL of their customers.  That would have diffused customers feelings and given them time to move their coins a week ago if they wanted to.

[iamTom123]

It is actually the decision of the company to make and Coinbase is not alone with this kind of decision. But of course, their customers are now feeling that they deserved to also get their share of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) just like the many who are using other services which supported BCH. Others might compare this to a daylight robbery.

Oh well, this can affect their business if not handled well. If I were a customer of Coinbase and there is nothing new that Coinbase can be offering to appease me then I will permanently leave the site and go somewhere else. It's good thing that my exchange (Bittrex) supported BCH and I now have my share of BCH in my wallet. I love you, Bittrex.

[bbc.reporter]

Coinbase told all their customers that they will not be supporting BCC. I reckon that there should be a statement in their terms of service that they can make these types of decisions which their users have agreed to.

Is it BCC or BCH? I see on Bittrex it is BCC.

[aso118]

If Coinbase is not crediting the users with the BCC which they deserve, then it is plain robbery. And right now, the BCC exchange rates are going at around BTC0.13 to BTC0.18 in Yobit. That means that Coinbase users are getting robbed of up to 18% of their funds.

If you calculate the total amount of bitcoins held by Coinbase, the overall robbery amount is huge.
It shouldn't be too difficult for them to change their decision and credit their customers with Bitcoin Cash even now.

[Yuhee]

And so if I make my own fork and they don't support it, then that is also "plain robbery"?

In my own perspective they have announced that they are not supporting bcc which by all means is legal so its on the users choice to risk his btc to that said exchange site right?. And off course all sites have slight gain in some interest in every transaction that occurs in there exchange site but coinbase for example may have made huge interest that laws have against it.

[hatshepsut93]

All these robbery arguments are stupid, Coinbase guarantees storing of Bitcoins, it never says in its user agreement that you own private keys and any altcoin that will fork from Bitcoin. And they have made a warning that anyone who wants to get BCH should withdraw, if someone has ignored this warning, it's their own fault.
And the reason why Coinbase and other companies don't touch BCH is because they don't want to run untested, unverified software from unknown developers. Their primary concern is safety of Bitcoins they currently hold. It would be "robbery" if they have claimed BCH for themselves, so if you want to make this kind of accusations, go find transactions on BCH blockchain that would prove that.