Coinbase users around the globe reported $0 crypto balances once again as Bitcoin rallied over $67,000 for the first time in over two years.
As Bitcoin (BTC) set a 28-month high on Mar. 4, crypto exchange Coinbase suffered its second outage amid euphoria in the cryptocurrency market in less than a week. The crypto fear and greed index sat at 82, indicating strong interest from users and traders.
During the first Coinbase outage of the year on Feb. 28, CEO Brian Armstrong said the platform was prepared to handle 10 times the usual traffic, but the exchange saw more usage than planned as Bitcoin rallied to the upside.
The outage suggests that even greater platform activity triggered the Coinbase downtime, as Bitcoin surged up to 6% in 24 hours. The platform assured users that funds were safe and that engineers were working to restore normal operations.
We are aware some users may experience increased latency across Coinbase.com and a few users may see intermittent zero balance. Rest assured, your funds are safe. Our team is investigating this issue and will provide an update. Trading is not impacted at this time.
Users were unhappy with the situation as it disrupted regular activities and implied that America’s biggest crypto exchange might be unready for heavy traffic during the bull cycle.
Social media posts showed that customers were less worried about seeing zero account balances and more concerned about a giant exchange temporarily collapsing amid increased transactions due to market price increments.
This is a developing story.