Are you a gambler? STAY AWAY FROM COINBASE!

[bitkilo]

Thanks alani123 for the alert.

It's unwise to store bitcoin at Coinbase or on any other exchange for an extended period of time...unless you like the idea of getting Goxed.  One of the advantages of cryptocurrencies is that you have the ability to protect your coins as much as you want.  I suggest protecting them well yourself.

Exactly. You should deposit bitcoin to your exchange account only if you are going to sell the coin soon.

Thank you noted. I was interested in the coinbase vault but its just a more secure way of an insider stealing some. ( not saying the good people of coinbase would do that) but u cant trust anyone.
Coins will be moved back to a new blockchain address now, thanks for the heads up.
I still hope something like this won't kill coinbase because it was so easy to use even when i was new not long ago.
I guess its whatsome people still want is for some1 else to be in charge of their finacial security.

[1715002254]

1715002254

[PenAndPaper]

Someone just found out that coinbase is a company that has to follow the law + that when you use an online waller you no longer have the absolute control of your funds. 

[PangPang]

As people always say, "if you don't have the private key, you don't have the bitcoin".
Coinbase may be a good place to buy and sell bitcoin if you are in the US, but it is never a good place to store your bitcoin.

[bitkilo]

Someone just found out that coinbase is a company that has to follow the law + that when you use an online waller you no longer have the absolute control of your funds. 

I knew about coinbase storing my coins but for just everyday use less than 0.05 btc i found it the easiest to use when i set it up awhile ago.
I also have a blockchain wallet that i print paper wallets off but i dont really like paper wallets.

[Stars]

Is this happening with everyone that deposits to a gambling website or just a few?

[Chemistry1988]

Is this happening with everyone that deposits to a gambling website or just a few?

No idea, but I have seen multiple persons reporting the same problem on reddit.
So to play safe, you may want to stop using coinbase.

[alani123]

A article on cointelegraph about the same issue :
http://cointelegraph.com/news/112319/coinbase-case-demonstrate-the-pitfalls-of-regulatory-compliance

[galbros]

I agree this is very disappointing. 

I probably should bug out of coinbase but the only coins I have there are coins that I expect to eventually sell for USD to pay bills.  My guess is that this is just required by the ever increasing restrictions on bitcoin businesses and they are doing all they can to stay "legit."

[soccosocco]

oh i just found out that, I'm gambler
I know bitcoin since last april, first wallet I use is coinbase
I've moved all my funds to blockchain before the 10th of july and do not use it again

[becapital]

coinbase was my first wallet too, and i decided to move my bitcoins to my multibit account, however i miss the feature that coinbase had which made a new address for every transaction, do you guys know and desktop wallets that does that because i cant seem to get it working with multibit.

[Stars]

I wonder how long it takes for other trading platforms to do the same as Coinbase.

[alani123]

coinbase was my first wallet too, and i decided to move my bitcoins to my multibit account, however i miss the feature that coinbase had which made a new address for every transaction, do you guys know and desktop wallets that does that because i cant seem to get it working with multibit.

Bitcoin core.

[Magicman420]

This sucks so bad

[Swordsoffreedom]

Sounds like a very smart move alani
I don't use coinbase but I would seriously consider my alternatives given that clause in their contract.

[Testing123]

I'm moving all my funds away from them and it's not just because I'm a gambler. Coinbase's User Agrement was updated on July 10, I don't know if  this was added in the latest update but it's obscene. Take a look below.

7. Restricted Activities.

7.1. Fiduciary Accounts/Custodial Assets. You hereby certify to us that any funds used by you in connection with the Coinbase Services are either owned by you or that you are validly authorized to carry out transactions using such funds. In particular, you acknowledge that Coinbase may not be a qualified custodian under applicable law, and represent that your use of the Coinbase Services is in compliance with any applicable requirements governing the maintenance and use of fiduciary accounts and custodial assets.

7.2. Restricted Activities. In connection with your use of the Coinbase Services, and your interactions with other users, and third parties you will not:

• Violate or assist any party in violating any law, statute, ordinance, regulation or any rule of any self-regulatory or similar organization of which you are or are required to be a member (for example, those laws, rules, or regulations governing financial services, controlled substances, unlawful gambling or consumer protections);

I asked that this should be clarified a bit more, the response I got was that they comply to the US law and will suspend accounts that don't comply to the regulations accordingly.
Engaging to any gambling service would put your account at a risk. And it's unclear how this would affect your funds. I'm calling it now. ABANDON COINBASE! They don't respect your freedom, they monitor transactions and will shut down your account no matter where you live according to the US law.

Relevant article (not written by me):
http://www.pokersites.com/news/bitcoin-online-poker-transactions-refused-coinbase-2044

Wait, is online bitcoin gambling sort of unlawful and illegal now in the US? 

[koshgel]

A bit of an overreaction to avoid Coinbase altogether?

Why not just send your coins to an intermediate wallet like blockchain's wallet before sending to your gambling site of choice.

Coinbase is a regulated US money service business and needs to follow these laws or risk being shut down.

[bitkilo]

Can anybody let me know how these laws affect us in Aus, i will look into it myself soon and edit post if no reply, thanks.

[alani123]

Can anybody let me know how these laws affect us in Aus, i will look into it myself soon and edit post if no reply, thanks.

Naturally, laws from the US don't affect you at all since you live on Australian territory. But you can be affected by proxy. In this case for example coinbase has to comply with FinCEN's (and other) regulations so no matter where you live if you're using them as a wallet they have the right to stop providing you their services for doing anything that is considered unlawful in the US through them. What's would be a solution to this?
Just don't use them to store coins, downloading and running a wallet on your own would be the best solution in my opinion.


Choose a wallet that fits your needs here:
https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet

Even in this page you'll see that coinbase doesn't offer even the basic features other wallets offer. Let me mention some important stuff among others.



By using coinbase:

• You don't have access to private keys nor you can export them.
• your coins don't stay in the address you put them in.
• Because of the above, you can't receive coins from an address they're being send after you withdraw.
• You are asked to give out personal information in order to create an account.
• Absolutely no access to any of the wallet's functions while you're not connected to the internet.

Furthermore it's relatively easy for people to find the email address you've signed up with and it has been done before. Although it's not as important, there've been mass attempts to con users out of their coins. Someone found all the registered emails and massively send withdraw orders to everyone.

In conclusion, if you like the freedom bitcoin offers, using coinbase as a wallet is something more than stupid. It's a sin. Just donwload a wallet and get access to all the features bitcoin can ofer to you. Because you should be the one with control on your coins, not a multimillion corporation. To me it feels like Coinbase is becoming what Satoshi was trying to abolish.

[bigasic]

I actually had a conversation with a support person regarding them suspending accounts and they told me that they have sophisticated software to determine if someone is doing something suspicious. This told me that they know the major wallets to most of the gambling sites, also, I assume that they can tell if your transaction went thru tor. So, the key is to either bag coinbase if you are going to use it for gambling or other stuff of use a separate wallet so your coins can sit there for a while. Or use a mixing service.

Something tells me they can tell if you have gambled or used the dark net.. Maybe not, but I wouldn't put it past them..

But, to defend them a bit, they have to abide by strict us laws, if they knew that your coins were coming from a known gambling site, it would put them in jeopardy to lose their licenses.

[nioc]

As people always say, "if you don't have the private key, you don't have the bitcoin".
Coinbase may be a good place to buy and sell bitcoin if you are in the US, but it is never a good place to store your bitcoin.

Ok but you can't buy and sell if your account has been closed down.  As we don't know their procedures we don't know what precautions we need to take.  That is, is sending coins from a gambling site to a wallet to cb good enough?

My last transfer from a gambling site to cb was in April and sold some to cb in May and the rest 2 weeks ago.  I haven't sent from cb in over a year.

coinbase was my first wallet too, and i decided to move my bitcoins to my multibit account, however i miss the feature that coinbase had which made a new address for every transaction, do you guys know and desktop wallets that does that because i cant seem to get it working with multibit.

Bitcoin core.

I would recommend Electrum.  No downloading the blockchain and no reason to back up anything ever.  Just save your seed in a secure location(s) and as I say it doesn't matter if your computer falls in a vat of acid.  You can also have multiple wallets.