28 February 2024
Coinbase, one of the leading Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges, experienced a significant outage today as Bitcoin’s price soared, leaving many users accounts malfunctioning. The disruption occurred amid a sharp increase in trading activity following Bitcoin’s surge in price, which briefly surpassed $64,000.
JUST IN: Coinbase has reportedly crashed.
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) February 28, 2024
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong attributed the outage to a “large surge of traffic” overwhelming the exchange’s infrastructure. The sudden influx of users attempting to buy, sell, or trade Bitcoin overwhelmed Coinbase’s servers, leading to connectivity issues for many customers.
“We are aware that some users may see a zero balance across their Coinbase accounts & may experience errors in buying or selling,” Coinbase stated. “Our team is investigating this & will provide an update shortly. Your assets are safe.”
We are dealing with a LARGE surge of traffic – apologies for any issues you encounter. The team is working to remediate.
— Brian Armstrong 🛡️ (@brian_armstrong) February 28, 2024
Following the outage, Bitcoin sharply declined in price from ~$64,000 to ~$59,500, wiping out most of the gains Bitcoin had made today. Coinbase has experienced similar outages in the past during periods of intense market volatility, prompting criticism from users and industry observers.
Despite the temporary disruption, Bitcoin’s price appears to have remained resilient, as it is now back above $60,700 at the time of writing, continuing its upward trajectory amid growing institutional adoption and investor interest.
As Coinbase works to restore normal operations, the incident serves as a reminder of the challenges associated with managing large-scale Bitcoin exchanges and the importance of robust infrastructure to ensure uninterrupted service for users.