Coinbase Can it be trusted? Not sure

[knightrider88]

So I have only used cypto currency for a year or so , and got started through coinbase. I have always liked the simplicity of it, But few days ago out of no where, my account got this notification "

Buys Currently Disabled"
ok no big deal I called them up, The person on phone gave no definite answer and mentioned about creating a ticket and someone will reach out to be in few business days. Today, without any response i got an email notification my ticket has been closed; NO RESPONSE WHAT SO EVER. I had to make another ticket, and bring my concerns to their attention and I get this email below : NO explanation what, why. They have all my documents on file, I have been with them for over a year Just randomly, and they don't care about having to give you an explanation.

Hi **********,

Thanks for the response. I understand your frustrations with this issue and appreciate your patience.

We are unable to elaborate on our internal decision process. This decision remains final and we will not be able to remove this restriction from your account.

We have not blocked access to the balance currently in your Coinbase account. While we can no longer process brokerage orders via our banking relationship, you may still send your balance to an external address

Thanks for your understanding and apologies for any inconvenience this has caused.

Please let me know if there's anything else I can assist you with.

Regards, Coinbase Support

Now I am scared, are my funds even saved there, Should i move everything, I have been referring everyone to Coinbase whoever wanted to start off with crypto; I feel betrayed, they championing themselves as a leader in Cryptocurrency/Decentralized space and Trying to centralized everything.This is ridiculous, does someone have any idea what can i do?

[bitmover]

They are basically kicking you off the exchange.

I would remove all my funds (crypt and fiat) as fast as possible. I would do it NOW.

After your funds are removed from the exchange, you should (if you want ot continue to use the exchange) inquiry them about the reasons for such a block in your account.


You asked if coinbase can be trusted. IMO, no exchange should be trusted. That being sad, coinbase is one of the most reliable exchanges out there, being old and heavily regulated by US law. They will hardly steal your funds, but they may freeze them if you have some kind of legal problem or suspicious activity. This is why your funds should be withdrawal immediately.

[gentlemand]

does someone have any idea what can i do?

Leave and don't go back.

They are not thieves. They can be assholes who strike with no reason or justification. It's like any relationship. As soon as one party starts to express doubts you're better off dumping them first.

[Lucius]

knightrider88, you are not the only person who has this problem, this is something that has been going on for years. If you use keywords "Buys Currently Disabled Coinbase" you'll find hundreds of questions from people who wonder why this happened to them.

Coinbase gives a formal answer to this question here : https://support.coinbase.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2612287-why-are-buys-and-deposits-disabled-on-my-account-

In your case they do not ask any additional information, so it may be related to first reason, and this is chargeback. However it may be some extra reason which they do not want to reveal. They for sure will not say : "We do not like your country or your bank", they just cut you off because of "internal decision".

[timerland]

Now I am scared, are my funds even saved there, Should i move everything, I have been referring everyone to Coinbase whoever wanted to start off with crypto; I feel betrayed, they championing themselves as a leader in Cryptocurrency/Decentralized space and Trying to centralized everything.This is ridiculous, does someone have any idea what can i do?

I mean, why wouldn't you move your funds off Coinbase?

For starters, Coinbase is a hosted wallet. It's not like you're gaining any tangible benefits in the form of interest payments for storing your BTC with them, so why take the extra risk of trusting them with your funds when you can just as easily store it in a wallet like Electrum, trustlessly?

Especially when they've got a track record of constantly delayed support ticket responses, as well as account suspensions. They've already obviously shown interest in investigating your account, so I think the smart thing is definitely to get out while you still can.

[1Referee]

What it probably comes down to is that their banking partner doesn't approve certain actions from the user side. This basically means that Coinbase is getting rid of you to please their banking partner so that it doesn't result in a closure of their own bank account(s). In other words, Coinbase is nothing but a slave here and they abide by whatever the bank they are working with tells them to do.

It's probably so hard to find other banking partners that they rather dump off a small number of users to not run into problems themselves.

[LeGaulois]

What it probably comes down to is that their banking partner doesn't approve certain actions from the user side. This basically means that Coinbase is getting rid of you to please their banking partner so that it doesn't result in a closure of their own bank account(s). In other words, Coinbase is nothing but a slave here and they abide by whatever the bank they are working with tells them to do.

It's probably so hard to find other banking partners that they rather dump off a small number of users to not run into problems themselves.

This is possible but in such case why a company can't just email the customers to tell xyz countries are not allowed anymore.
It makes more sense that limiting customers accounts without any real explanation. If they want to please their banking partners, which is fine, they just have to act as I said. No need to make mysterious things.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Yes, they can be trusted but YES they're ridiculously customer-insensitive. 

What I mean by that is that they're not going to get away with screwing their customers out of their money, as they're regulated by the US government and risk getting shut down if they do that (and they probably have all the funds insured anyway), but there's nothing stopping them from shutting down people's accounts with no reason--and they do.  They did it to me, also with no explanation.

I would not use them again, but not for lack of trust.  It would be more for the same reason I wouldn't shop at Sears or something like that.  They're just a shitty business.

[knightrider88]

this is just horrible business practice on their end, if any other exchange was doing what they were doing they would be blacklisted and the exchange token value would drop liek crazy.

Just to answer some questions, my Country is Canada, so if they have a issue with Canadian Banking system then they have a banking problem with the US too!, since we pretty much have interconnected banks.

secondly, I was using them because of their friendly Api that allowed me to send multiple currencies with ease and especially within coinbase accounts without fees which causes a big problem for me because it is hard to find similar api elsewhere without paying high fees.

also, they have all of my information my legal documents, Credit card information why can't they just be honest with their users and let them know this is the issue we are having or we have concerns and lets fix it    is that really too hard

Just ridiculous I hope another better solution comes along and we don't have to use this company any more

[carlfebz2]

Now I am scared, are my funds even saved there, Should i move everything, I have been referring everyone to Coinbase whoever wanted to start off with crypto; I feel betrayed, they championing themselves as a leader in Cryptocurrency/Decentralized space and Trying to centralized everything.This is ridiculous, does someone have any idea what can i do?

Pull out everything as long you would able to.I haven't experience it yet but i did already read up these kind of complaints which they do block accounts without any valid reason.
I cant say that Coinbase cant be trusted but they can mess you up anytime or unexpectedly.

[harizen]

also, they have all of my information my legal documents, Credit card information why can't they just be honest with their users and let them know this is the issue we are having or we have concerns and lets fix it    is that really too hard

Just ridiculous I hope another better solution comes along and we don't have to use this company any more

Coinbase can be "trusted"*, at least worth to put a shot compared to other exchange. But if some sh*t happen to you while using them even for years, then it's obvious what would be our approach providing we already do our best to communicate to them via support but still not getting a good response.

There are no Coinbase staffs or officials here that might read this sentiment of yours or "ours". Therefore, even how loud we whine here, nothing "good" changed will happen.

Good thing you have chances to get out so do it now. For now, find alternatives that can be close to what advantages of using Coinbase giving you.

[knightrider88]

also, they have all of my information my legal documents, Credit card information why can't they just be honest with their users and let them know this is the issue we are having or we have concerns and lets fix it    is that really too hard

Just ridiculous I hope another better solution comes along and we don't have to use this company any more

Coinbase can be "trusted"*, at least worth to put a shot compared to other exchange. But if some sh*t happen to you while using them even for years, then it's obvious what would be our approach providing we already do our best to communicate to them via support but still not getting a good response.

There are no Coinbase staffs or officials here that might read this sentiment of yours or "ours". Therefore, even how loud we whine here, nothing "good" changed will happen.

Good thing you have chances to get out so do it now. For now, find alternatives that can be close to what advantages of using Coinbase giving you.

Hey man not really trying to whine, not sure if coinbase would even care about users like me or you, but The main thing is to bring this into light because it is happening to users, and other have gone through this to learn what was their experience and make sure I take the necessary steps to protect my investment

[joniboini]

So, they're going Bittrex now? Closing account without explanation.

I wonder why they need to hide the reason for closing/disabling orders from their users. Things could get ugly if they suddenly disabled everything and disable withdrawal without explanation too.

[gentlemand]

So, they're going Bittrex now? Closing account without explanation.

I wonder why they need to hide the reason for closing/disabling orders from their users. Things could get ugly if they suddenly disabled everything and disable withdrawal without explanation too.

They've always done that. There've always been reports of people getting the boot or having their buy limit reduced to $10 a week from $10,000.

I presume almost everyone working at Coinbase has no idea why this is happening either. It's some obscure algorithm that gets triggered or a shed full of witches who issue commands.

I've never heard of anyone being prevented from withdrawing after being told to go away.

[Patatas]

Now I am scared, are my funds even saved there, Should i move everything, I have been referring everyone to Coinbase whoever wanted to start off with crypto; I feel betrayed, they championing themselves as a leader in Cryptocurrency/Decentralized space and Trying to centralized everything.This is ridiculous, does someone have any idea what can i do?

Yes, avoid using exchange wallets as the primary sources for storing your coins. There are dedicated personal wallets like Electrum so you have all control over your coins. An exchange like Coinbase can fuck you over without any reason and you can do absolutely nothing about it. Also, ask all the people you've referred to send their coins from coinbase to a more secure wallet like Electrum. Blockchain.com is the worst case scenario if you're not too techy.

It's some obscure algorithm that gets triggered or a shed full of witches who issue commands.

Did you mean to say FBI?

[squatter]

No exchange can be trusted. Full stop!

So, they're going Bittrex now? Closing account without explanation.

They've always done that. There've always been reports of people getting the boot or having their buy limit reduced to $10 a week from $10,000.

I presume almost everyone working at Coinbase has no idea why this is happening either. It's some obscure algorithm that gets triggered or a shed full of witches who issue commands.

Yes, it's some kind of risk mitigation algorithm. Deposit/withdrawal patterns, login locations, who knows? But something is getting these accounts flagged and Coinbase obviously doesn't view the accounts as worth the risk. Gemini especially doesn't seem to like disclosing why they close accounts. I guess if they make their specific risk mitigation procedures public, people will start finding ways around them.

[dothebeats]

They are real assholes, mind you. If I were you I'd take all of my funds out of their exchange and go elsewhere. Not that they are scamming you or something, but they basically just wanted you to get off of their exchange. They have been doing this for years now and I'm sure you're not the only one who got their account closed without prior warning or even an explanation whatsoever. They just.. close it whenever they like. They're not the only exchange out there so take your business off of their platform.