Coinbase account closure?

[henryreardon]

I answered everything honestly.  Look at their reply.  This is nuts.

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NOV 06, 2015 | 03:22PM PST
Danielle replied:
Hi [anonymized],

We regret to inform you that a manual review has determined that you are ineligible to use the Coinbase platform to purchase Bitcoin. We’re sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause.

Please note, that we have not blocked access to any bitcoin balance currently in your Coinbase account; while we can no longer process transactions of this bitcoin via our banking relationship, you may send this bitcoin to a local wallet or another bitcoin address.

Again I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you.

Respectfully,
Danielle | Coinbase Compliance

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NOV 05, 2015 | 12:40PM PST
[anonymized] replied:
Hi Danielle,   

I never got emails from y'all on 2/16 or 2/23   *I barely use my Coinbase account so any purported "high volume transactions" were not by me.  Additionally, in Sept/Oct 2014 I had a heckuva time placing a couple orders -- they kept getting canceled, I believe b/c of fraudulent activity and bogus accounts. See far below to see my email communication with your Coinbase colleagues. Looks like my Coinbase account, for whatever reason, is plagued with some sort of fraud.

Now let me take a stab at your questions:   
*I don't own any others, just the one associated with this email address i.e. [anonymized]   
*Buy bitcoin when low, save them in cold storage till down the line in the future after probably USD collapse. I have yet to sell any back through Coinbase but I might want to do so at some point   
*I don't remember every single transaction but some were probably from my brother (who also trades bitcoin here and there),
maybe some from my dad   
*My own personal bank account, the one linked to Coinbase   
*Services? I don't think I've ever "spent" a bitcoin on anything. I transfer some to cold storage, some to BTC-e to do some
cryptocurrency day trading, but I really don't "spend" bitcoins on anything

Please advise asap, thanks
- [anonymized]

[OrientA]

It seems Coinbase thinks it cannot earn money from you due to your low deposit value of bitcoin and your inactivity.

Coinbase is there to make profit. If it cannot make much profit from you as a customer, it will not treat you as its valued customer and close your account.

That is why we need bitcoin and act as our own bank.

[Quickseller]

Have you ever transferred BTC from your coinbase account to a LBC account? (this includes either a direct transfer, or a tx from coinbase to your wallet and then using an address spendlinked to the address you send the BTC from coinbase to LBC?

I know that coinbase does not like it when their customers buy BTC from them and then sells that BTC on LBC because it opens them up to a number of regulatory issues, especially if you transfer large amounts to LBC. The fact that you transferred some BTC to btc-e from coinbase may have played a roll in this, however this is speculation.

When you would buy BTC on coinbase and then transfer it to cold storage, when you decide to sell those BTC, would you use the same inputs that are from coinbase, or are the inputs that you use to deposit BTC back to coinbase from other sources?

[AncilVTwo]

Yesterday I logged into Coinbase for the first time in about 4 months and was met with this message:

Unfortunately we have had to close your Coinbase account. Before your account can be closed, you will need to withdraw your bitcoin to an external wallet and any other funds to an attached bank account. Please be sure to delete any references to bitcoin addresses generated by Coinbase, as bitcoin sent to those addresses will not be retrievable once the account is closed. If you have any questions you may contact us at support@coinbase.com.

Transfer 0.00007033 BTC out of your Bitcoin accounts
Enter a Bitcoin address to which we will sweep all of the funds from these accounts

I wrote them an email at the support address but have not heard back yet. 

Anybody else experience this?  I am suspicious, possibilities I am worried about:
1. This is an elaborate scam of some sort
2. USG is cracking down on Coinbase
3. Coinbase is having internal issues and about to shutter like Mt. Gox

?

i dont think you have to worry about coinbase turning into Mtgox, mtgox didnt give its users a headsup to withdraw.

[henryreardon]

Have you ever transferred BTC from your coinbase account to a LBC account? (this includes either a direct transfer, or a tx from coinbase to your wallet and then using an address spendlinked to the address you send the BTC from coinbase to LBC?

When you would buy BTC on coinbase and then transfer it to cold storage, when you decide to sell those BTC, would you use the same inputs that are from coinbase, or are the inputs that you use to deposit BTC back to coinbase from other sources?

No I have not.

Maybe minimal additional inputs that I got from my dad or bro, but even those they initially got through Coinbase.

Well if they don't want my [legitimate] business then I'll go elsewhere.  Any other reputable American bitcoin brokers out there that y'all would recommend?

[bitcoinmar]

Have you ever transferred BTC from your coinbase account to a LBC account? (this includes either a direct transfer, or a tx from coinbase to your wallet and then using an address spendlinked to the address you send the BTC from coinbase to LBC?

When you would buy BTC on coinbase and then transfer it to cold storage, when you decide to sell those BTC, would you use the same inputs that are from coinbase, or are the inputs that you use to deposit BTC back to coinbase from other sources?

No I have not.

Maybe minimal additional inputs that I got from my dad or bro, but even those they initially got through Coinbase.

Well if they don't want my [legitimate] business then I'll go elsewhere.  Any other reputable American bitcoin brokers out there that y'all would recommend?

Many exchanges offering this service you can check from these https://campbx.com/main.php https://www.bitfinex.com/ and https://www.bitstamp.net/

[Quickseller]

Have you ever transferred BTC from your coinbase account to a LBC account? (this includes either a direct transfer, or a tx from coinbase to your wallet and then using an address spendlinked to the address you send the BTC from coinbase to LBC?

When you would buy BTC on coinbase and then transfer it to cold storage, when you decide to sell those BTC, would you use the same inputs that are from coinbase, or are the inputs that you use to deposit BTC back to coinbase from other sources?

No I have not.

Maybe minimal additional inputs that I got from my dad or bro, but even those they initially got through Coinbase.

Well if they don't want my [legitimate] business then I'll go elsewhere.  Any other reputable American bitcoin brokers out there that y'all would recommend?

If you received BTC from your dad or brother who also purchased BTC from coinbase then they may think that you are in control of their accounts and this may be behind the question of asking about other coinbase accounts that you have. If this was their thought process, then they might be afraid that you were using multiple accounts to get around their daily limits, which could potentially expose them to additional credit risk.......this is of course speculation.

[henryreardon]

If you received BTC from your dad or brother who also purchased BTC from coinbase then they may think that you are in control of their accounts and this may be behind the question of asking about other coinbase accounts that you have. If this was their thought process, then they might be afraid that you were using multiple accounts to get around their daily limits, which could potentially expose them to additional credit risk.......this is of course speculation.

Yeah that makes sense but honestly we are not talking about thousands of coins or anything like that, we are talking low small fry numbers.  If they truly yanked by account for 10 or 20 coin transactions here and there I would be very surprised.  Looks like their policy over there is guilty unless proven innocent, or rather guilty guilty guilty despite evidence proving innocence.  I'm gonna use Bitstamp from now on

[Quickseller]

If you received BTC from your dad or brother who also purchased BTC from coinbase then they may think that you are in control of their accounts and this may be behind the question of asking about other coinbase accounts that you have. If this was their thought process, then they might be afraid that you were using multiple accounts to get around their daily limits, which could potentially expose them to additional credit risk.......this is of course speculation.

Yeah that makes sense but honestly we are not talking about thousands of coins or anything like that, we are talking low small fry numbers.  If they truly yanked by account for 10 or 20 coin transactions here and there I would be very surprised.  Looks like their policy over there is guilty unless proven innocent, or rather guilty guilty guilty despite evidence proving innocence.  I'm gonna use Bitstamp from now on

I was/am obviously speculating, however if you were to have only one small tx linked to your dad's and brother's account and each of those accounts has a daily limit of buying $10,000 per day then they would be exposed to $30,000 worth of exposure per day if you were to attempt to do something malicious with all three accounts.

I am not trying to defend their actions, but rather try to determine some kind of explanation as to why they might have closed your account.

[henryreardon]

I am not trying to defend their actions, but rather try to determine some kind of explanation as to why they might have closed your account.

You are totally right.  But I would think if that's what they thought they would at least explain that to me, not just say "sorry but you're out!"