134 pages of complaints filed to the SEC against Coinbase

[First77]

Life savings lost. Desperate cries for help. Allegations of fraud. In the six years since its founding, the San Francisco-based exchange Coinbase has established itself as one of the most trusted places to trade ether, bitcoin, litecoin, and bitcoin cash. It's also run up its share of critics: namely, its customers.

In 134 pages of complaints filed to the SEC and the California Department of Business Oversight obtained by Mashable following a five-month FOIA process, a picture emerges not of a responsible actor in the cryptocurrency space opening the market to new investors, but rather a company overwhelmed by and underprepared for its own success.And the consequences — as expressed by Coinbase's own customers — are enough to give even the most diehard crypto-enthusiast pause.

Money gone and no one homeA recurring theme in the SEC complaint files Mashable obtained is the seeming disappearance of a would-be trader's money, and what is portrayed as an aggressive nonchalance on the part of Coinbase in response to the loss.Notably, the SEC redacted the complaints to remove personally identifiable information. This, while an understandable privacy measure, makes it practically impossible to reach out to the complainants for follow up. As such, we'll mostly let their words speak for themselves.And there are a lot of words.

https://mashable.com/2018/06/20/sec-coinbase-complaints-fraud/

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[jseverson]

Allegations are just allegations until they're proven, but these complaints are actually very believable and not at all far from what usually happens with embattled exchanges. I never thought of Coinbase as being particularly safe, but I only usually hear about them being a shitty exchange, not a scammy one. Turns out everyone has plenty of scam allegations. I hope these are resolved as soon as possible.

This is just another reminder to not trust exchanges with your money and to not use them any more than necessary.

[BigWinner87]

yeah, fair point mate, always be careful when it comes to exchanges...
they must be fairly regulated!!!

[First77]

This is just another reminder to not trust exchanges with your money and to not use them any more than necessary.

How will you buy and sell Bitcoins if there are no exchanges ??

[jseverson]

This is just another reminder to not trust exchanges with your money and to not use them any more than necessary.

How will you buy and sell Bitcoins if there are no exchanges ??

I didn't say not to use them, as bolded, but to use them sparingly. Don't trust them with obscene amounts, etc., etc. Exchanges, even as they are now, are necessary for adoption and I don't want them to disappear. I want them to be better, but who knows if that'll happen.

But yeah, people who would rather not use them at all still have peer-to-peer alternatives available so it's not all bad.

[sponge_bob13]

I can't say anything about it till these allegations are proving to be right or wrong. Lets see what happens next. But as much as I know coinbase is a trustworthy exchange.

[stompix]

This is just another reminder to not trust exchanges with your money and to not use them any more than necessary.

How will you buy and sell Bitcoins if there are no exchanges ??

How did some of us manage to do this before there was an exchange?
You could always use localbitcoin to do trades, although even in that case you still have to trust LB with your coins for a while.

But moving back to Coinbase, if this one goes down....it's going to be one bloody summer...autumn..winter.

I didn't say not to use them, as bolded, but to use them sparingly. Don't trust them with obscene amounts, etc., etc. Exchanges, even as they are now, are necessary for adoption and I don't want them to disappear. I want them to be better, but who knows if that'll happen.

But yeah, people who would rather not use them at all still have peer-to-peer alternatives available so it's not all bad.

Most of the amounts in the article are far from obscene...15, 20, 21k$ are no insane since we're talking about the US here.
As far as I understand most of them had problems with Coinbase crediting their accounts, so people didn't even have the option of getting their coins out of there once bought.
I don't wanna see Coinbase in trouble but if it does it will trigger the best damn fireworks since MtgOX  
Cheap coins anyone?

LE.
Oh crap I just looked at the prices....

[uncleduckerr]

This is just another reminder to not trust exchanges with your money and to not use them any more than necessary.

How will you buy and sell Bitcoins if there are no exchanges ??

You misread that post and it says don't use them anymore than your basic need. Don't leave funds on an exchange, not even for a day because that could be the one day they go down. This happened with me on Bitgrail and I gotta say it sucks to lose a lot of money that way.

[Maveth13]

I've always known coinbase is a shit exchange with extremely poor customer service and support, but I didn't know such allegations exist. Of all the news out there this one is particularly worrying.

[Indamuck]

These regulations are really starting to hurt America.  These kind of actions is why we are seeing many crypto exchanges and businesses move to countries with more relaxed laws. I feel at this point the continued success of coinbase will be very important for crypto to gain complete mainstream adoption.

[bdbabiak77]

They know if they kick coinbase, this crypto is dead. Prices will drop so low, only those old cyberhackers among us who were there in the beginning will still be there. It will be re-marginalized to its cyber-ghetto.

Bitcoin was not designed for anything else. If it's to get 'big', it relies on hosted business, which are easily attacked. If it gets to big it'll be attacked. Therefore, bitcoin must remain small and marginalized, any apparent 'bigness' is temporary.

Bitcoin was begun due to the political idea of anarcho-communism. It cannot interface with a hostile economic system. Why should they tolerate a dissenter in their house?

[mary_55]

I think these are all baseless and they are harassing coinbase unnecessarily. Coinbase is the most popular exchange and I really don't believe that this can be true.

[Phlaser]

An allegation will always remain so until it's proven to be true and fact. No doubt it would be sorted out by SEC and Coinbase. At the end of it all, coinbase will gain more.

Life savings lost. Desperate cries for help. Allegations of fraud. In the six years since its founding, the San Francisco-based exchange Coinbase has established itself as one of the most trusted places to trade ether, bitcoin, litecoin, and bitcoin cash. It's also run up its share of critics: namely, its customers.

In 134 pages of complaints filed to the SEC and the California Department of Business Oversight obtained by Mashable following a five-month FOIA process, a picture emerges not of a responsible actor in the cryptocurrency space opening the market to new investors, but rather a company overwhelmed by and underprepared for its own success.And the consequences — as expressed by Coinbase's own customers — are enough to give even the most diehard crypto-enthusiast pause.

Money gone and no one homeA recurring theme in the SEC complaint files Mashable obtained is the seeming disappearance of a would-be trader's money, and what is portrayed as an aggressive nonchalance on the part of Coinbase in response to the loss.Notably, the SEC redacted the complaints to remove personally identifiable information. This, while an understandable privacy measure, makes it practically impossible to reach out to the complainants for follow up. As such, we'll mostly let their words speak for themselves.And there are a lot of words.

https://mashable.com/2018/06/20/sec-coinbase-complaints-fraud/

[rollingstorm45]

yeah, fair point mate, always be careful when it comes to exchanges...
they must be fairly regulated!!!

what if we have no choice other than coinbase?
for example, in Bittrex now the data verification process is very complicated, even waiting for a few days to be rejected
and Coinbase I think is good, but when I hear this news, I have to rack my brain again to get BTC using fiat

[pitiflin]

Its coinbase, one of the richest exchanges in crypto. They can easily settle for these lawsuits and they will be gone before you know it. It is centralized after all. 

SEC would rather go after ponzi schemes and ICOs. Unless they think that they could take coinbase down, once and for all,they would go for the bigger fish. But coinbase should get out of this easily. Because they haven't scammed anyone.

[franky1]

yeah, fair point mate, always be careful when it comes to exchanges...
they must be fairly regulated!!!

regulations do not mean that a business is better policed.
regulations mean that the business is following its own policy to police its customers.

consumer protections. which is a completely different category is where policiing the business comes into play.

i truly hate it when people scream businesses need to be regulated, without those screamers actually understanding what rgulations do.
taking the banking crises of 2007-2008. banks have multiple regulations. but ask yourself who got hurt most.. it certainly wasnt the banks

[Intensity]

I never had a problem with Coinbase/GDAX, but I use them like how a person should... Transfer money, buy crypto, transfer out. Three simple steps to follow.

[rommelzkie]

These complainants are very noob on financial market. Why do they file complaints against coinbase? did coinbase promise them big returns?. Did they know that in Forex and CFD trading, a lot of people losing money too?

This is another FUD. geez, the people nowadays cant even make their own research.  

[First77]

I think these are all baseless and they are harassing coinbase unnecessarily. Coinbase is the most popular exchange and I really don't believe that this can be true.

what do you expect when Bitcoin concept is anonymity, decentralization and anti-government ??

[franky1]

These complainants are very noob on financial market. Why do they file complaints against coinbase? did coinbase promise them big returns?. Did they know that in Forex and CFD trading, a lot of people losing money too?

This is another FUD. geez, the people nowadays cant even make their own research.  

the complaints were not about the risie/drops of prices causing losses.
the complaints were about not receiving funds/balance when withdrawing/depositing