Stay away from Coinbase

[ldh37]

I just signed up with Coinbase last Friday and the bank verify deposits completed yesterday.  I only created an account to sell some of the btc I've mined.  I've read several horror stories but, it seems like every exchange out there has plenty of them.  Since I went to the trouble to create the account and get level II verified I think I'll go ahead and try to sell a small amount and see what happens.  I will post the results.

I sold BTC0.05 thanksgiving night.  Coinbase said my money would hit my bank account on 12/04.  I still have cautious optimism that the transaction will complete successfully however, I will wait for it before selling any more btc.  Will post an update after 12/04.

Well, I'm pleased and relieved.  The transaction completed and the money showed up in my bank account yesterday - a day earlier than the coinbase estimate.  It took 3 business days which is the same as PayPal and most other ACH based bank transfer services I've used.  I feel comfortable enough now to sell a larger amount.

[freakyone]

How fast is coinbase to withdraw BTC into USD to my bank account?

I sold on Tuesday night last week and they claimed I'd get them in 2 business days (which due to Thanksgiving would be Wednesday and Friday of that week).  They even claimed a date of Dec. 2nd and a time.

I ended up seeing the money appear in the bank on Dec 3rd in the morning.  They claimed the slow down was partially due to my bank's own processing of the transfer (can't confirm or deny this) which may have been made worse by the holiday week.

For me it takes 4 business days for it to post to my account. 2 for transfer from coinbase to officially show up at the bank and 2 for the 48 hour hold my bank places on electronic deposits. So far, I have not had any problems with them, though it makes me a little concerned to read what others have gone through. 

[caminilegroup]

I posted the screenshots of me selling my balance, money was in my account the day it said it would be. I just sold some more today and it said it should be in my account by Monday.

So far I don't have anything bad to say about coinbase.

Michael

[mvidetto]

I posted the screenshots of me selling my balance, money was in my account the day it said it would be. I just sold some more today and it said it should be in my account by Monday.

So far I don't have anything bad to say about coinbase.

Michael

Neither did I for the first 5 months...

[montreal]

I've heard this from a few different people but personally I have not had any issues yet, but thanks for the heads up

[madpoet]

The other day in the massive crash I bought 4 low instantly and sold $200 higher a few hours later.  Both transactions went through fine and my money was in my account this morning.  Was a nice and easy way to make several hundred dollars

[conifer]

I just recently got into buying bitcoin. I have been researching the tech side of it for many months now. Obviously the world needs decentralized money!

While there are a bunch of problems out there, I personally have had none with Coinbase, but then again I buy in reasonable amounts.

Maybe people should think about the kind of buying they are doing. If your trying to buy 10 bitcoin to ramp the system so that you can then sell and make money , I kind of chuckle at the fact you might have had a problem.

First reason is; you've missed the whole point. If your trying to collect paper off of bitcoin, your pushing this crypto-wagon uphill. The real power of bitcoin is to eliminate that paper. Not to make YOU rich, because you think you understand how investment banking works.

Second reason is; that type of thinking is a brick wall. Like a giant spire. In the end it will just be you and some other morons like you trading the currency back and forth in large amounts between themselves trying to push everyone else out.

If bitcoin is strictly an investment to you, then you have missed the whole philisophical journey that bitcoin and other crypto's are. Your still trying to bank. Even though history is teaching us that banking is a form of evil.

So, if your tryin to turn bitcoin into another giant pyramid for your payout I sure hope you fall flat on yer ugly face at every attempt. 

 

[madpoet]

No, we don't AGREE with your point.  I didn't miss a thing.  Yippie for you that you have that goal.  I have a goal of paying my bills, which funny enough I can't do with bitcoin   So when you're done wishing ill on people how about you contribute something useful.

[ajw7989]

My main problem with coinbase right now is the high premium they charge to buy bitcoin. They seem to be going pretty high even when there is a huge dip for an hour or so. Not sure if its because supply and demand or coinbase is becoming greedy. THeir buy sell has a huge difference sometimes (I have seen up to $15) which they are making huge profits on plus their 1% fee. CUstomers must not like this or having problems with them for sure since if you look at the number of transactions graph it has been plummeting. The whole point of bitcoin for a lot of people is to play the peaks and dips like a stock market and coinbase is taking advantage of this too much I feel on top of their normal cancellation problems.

[KryptoKit]

There's a developing trend in the space. The more popular an exchange becomes, the more backed up they become with customers, the higher the currency risk for the customers already entering the pool.

You have every right to feel the way you do about what happened to you on that transaction. However, I don't know how far I would go on suggesting others to adopt new, smaller exchanges (which would actually be healthy for the BTC economy).

Some users don't want to be capped at low buy/sell orders, which new exchanges will have to be limited to in the short term. On the other hand, larger exchanges tend to be big targets for hackers and price manipulators. The two biggest crashes in BTC history have both resulted from Mt.Gox, the first was a hack, the second was a server crash that was caused by excessive traffic.

As far as your personal decision to not use Coinbase, I can understand it and would probably act similarly if founded with the same scenario. However, that's not to say that every new user has something to lose by trying Coinbase. Coinbase has a very intricate hardware and software foundation, along with a lot of liquidity and customers. Their wallet is also easy to use and looks nice.

My conclusion would be to suggest that you disburse your bitcoins onto different exchanges and addresses to make the most utility of the fact that Bitcoin was created to give you options.

[mrbill]

I've had no problems with Coinbase whatsoever, and no need to jump through all the massive "send them copies of my ID" hoops.  Done a few hundred dollars in BTC purchases, and about five hundred worth of withdrawals to my bank account so far.

[rodri91]

Is there anyway to speed up that 4 day wait? It's killing me and I don't know another service that withdraws out of my account tike that, help?

[madpoet]

If you get level 3 verified with a credit card you can instantly buy up to 10.

[DodoB]

never liked coinbase. lost 0.07BTC in a compromise long ago. dont trust them or any other bank/online wallet.

[samsam]

If you get level 3 verified with a credit card you can instantly buy up to 10.

How does the "instant buy" option work? Do they charge your credit card or do they charge your bank account and use the credit card as backup payment if the ACH transfer doesn't go through?

Thanks.

[madpoet]

The second.  They debit your bank account and then fall back to the credit card.

[danleuthner]

I would like to know what other people use to turn their bitcoin to cash. I find the coinbase is the fast and most reliable way to sell bitcoin. I have used localbitcoin, but it seem cumbersome to wait for a response.

[soloburrito]

When I was mining earlier this year I switched to Coinbase to cash out my btc profits. Can't say I ever had a bad experience with them.

I'm currently waiting for my first large buy order to be finalized. Placed the order Monday, they said I'd have my BTC by Friday which annoyed me. What also annoyed me was the fact that my bank account had already been charged as of Wednesday, but I still have to wait until Friday to see my BTC.

I understand the logistical challenge of running a BTC exchange, but this is ridiculous. I'm going to start the process of level 2 and 3 verification to hopefully avoid this in the future.

[MAbtc]

Don't trust third parties like Coinbase to hold your coins. You simply cannot verify the security conditions under which your funds are held.

Get a desktop wallet, learn how to encrypt properly, consider cold storage, etc. Secure your own funds. Otherwise, you are just waiting around for Coinbase to screw you.

Use them to buy/sell if you need to. That's it.

[odolvlobo]

I understand the logistical challenge of running a BTC exchange, but this is ridiculous. I'm going to start the process of level 2 and 3 verification to hopefully avoid this in the future.

It is not as ridiculous as you think. ACH transfers can be canceled and reversed. Copinbase waits for 5 days in order to reduce the risk of fraud.

Try this: open an account at any bank (other than your current bank) and transfer money from you current account to this new account. Time how long it takes before you are able to withdraw cash from your new account. I bet it will be no faster than Coinbase.

Most people are ignorant about how money and banking work. One of the benefits of the Bitcoin movement is that people are starting to understand what money is and realize how incredibly inefficient the banking system is.

For example, a few years ago someone in the US banking industry came up with the crazy idea of ACH being done instantly rather than taking 3-5 business days. Of course, the idea was considered absurd even though it is a trivial to implement. So, the industry instead voted on reducing the time down to a single day. The banks voted overwhelmingly against it, so we are still stuck at 3-5 business days.