SEC Reveals 164 Page Document of Coinbase Customer Complaints
A great number of Coinbase users sent countless reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission, complaining that they had lost their funds.
By Julia SakovichUpdated
3 mins readPhoto: Vip Crypto Signals / Flickr
For six years of its existence, the San Francisco-based exchange Coinbase has been known as one of the most reliable and secure platforms for crypto trading.
Nevertheless, 164 pages of customers’ complaints that were filed to the SEC and the California Department of Business Oversight show us absolutely a different image of the company.
Without any doubts, today Coinbase is one of the most influential world’s cryptocurrency companies. Since 2012, when it was founded, it has been a platform for investors from different corners of the world who want to enter the cryptocurrency market.
In December, when it was an extreme hype about the cryptocurrencies, the Coinbase app was #1 on the Apple App Store.
Recently, Coinbase launched Coinbase Pro platform and announced the launch of its new Crypto Index Fund specifically aimed at large investors who have the position of a U.S. accredited investor.
Without any doubts there are always two groups of clients or users who had good and bad experience of interaction with each company, nevertheless, a package SEC documents that became publicly available is an evidence of negative cases.
And these complaints show us the Coinbase’s customers experience that does not correspond to the globally accepted requirements for the world-class services. The majority of users complained about disappearance of their money.
It’s worth mentioning that the SEC edited the complaints with a view to hide personally identifiable information of people. Nevertheless, the complaints themselves remained unchanged.
One of the typical complaints contains the following information: “I have sent 17,023.00 from my Coinbase account to another Coinbase account on 12.21.2017. The other Coinbase account never received the funds as of 1/16/2018. I have contacted Coinbase over 7 times and all they say is that they have so many issues, they will get back to me and it is been a month.”
The client has lost around $5,000 as a result of the company’s error. “I believe the company is holding my funds to make money on top of my investment.”
Nevertheless, it was not an isolated case. A number of other people also informed that Coinbase is withholding their funds and complained about having lost even larger amounts of money. One user even accused Coinbase of “acting criminally.”
Coinbase representatives refused to make any comments on these issues, nevertheless, they insist that they are making significant efforts to improve their services and to reduce the time that they need to respond to their client’s inquiries.
Meanwhile, Brian Armstrong, CEO and Co-founder at Coinbase, posted a series of tweets aimed at his employees where he compared three cycles of Bitcoin prices from 2013, 2014, and 2017 and defined its up and down cycles.
“After many years of this, I’ve come to enjoy the down cycles in crypto prices more. It gets rid of the people who are in it for the wrong reasons, and it gives us an opportunity to keep making progress while everyone else gets distracted.”
“Together we can stay focused on the long term, and shift the world toward an open financial system,” wrote Armstrong.
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