New Users and Regulations: Coinbase Explains The Cause of Issues Amid Latest Bitcoin Price Volatility
The largest US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has issued a formal apology for users in the UK and the EU region. The company acknowledged that its services have been unstable because of the high number of new registrations and the latest regulatory requirements.
More Users Led To Problems On Coinbase
Coinbase users located in the UK or the EU might have noticed that the services on the popular US exchange didn’t operate properly in the past two months. The platform displayed “partially downgraded service,” delayed order execution, and some customers even had difficulties accessing their accounts.
The company, which described itself as “the most trusted brand in the crypto ecosystem,” apologized for the inconvenience and offered an explanation of what caused the issues. It reads that the problems arose from “two factors coming together at the same time.”
Coinbase referred to the latest bull run in the cryptocurrency field that led to significant price increases and the market cap exceeding $1 trillion for the first time. The exchange believes that these developments had caught the attention of people outside of the industry, and many of them had decided to register, which clogged the system.
To alleviate some of the pain for UK customers, the exchange has re-enabled users to directly convert crypto into fiat (GBP/EUR) and transfer it into their PayPal accounts.
Additionally, Coinbase plans to implement solutions to reduce the time necessary for users to recover their accounts following account lock-outs.
Regulations Cause Issues Too
The second reason that Coinbase listed was the “evolving regulatory requirements” that push the exchange to “collect additional information from some of our customers.” Although this causes temporary restrictions on those accounts until the information is processed, the company said it “cannot compromise on our regulatory obligations.”
However, Coinbase promised that it will do a “better job in communicating” with its customers and will develop more straightforward ways for users to provide the necessary information.
The company has also improved the customer flow on mobile and will prioritize pending customer information requests.
It’s worth noting, though, that Coinbase has a reputation for going offline during times of high volatility. In such cases, when traders and investors need immediate access to their accounts, the exchange has experienced issues in the past, resulting even in people closing their accounts.
