Coinbase, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, faced technical disruptions on Wednesday as Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, surged to its highest value in over two years.
In a reassuring statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, Coinbase Support assured users that their funds within the platform were secure. The team was actively investigating the incident that led to some users observing a zero balance and encountering errors in transactions.
Coinbase did not disclose the specific cause of the outage, but during the resolution process, essential features like buying, selling, trading, and transferring were temporarily unavailable on both the Coinbase website and mobile app.
Brian Armstrong, the co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, took to the platform to apologize for the disruption, attributing it to a significant surge in traffic. He assured users that the team was diligently working to address the issues.
Simultaneously, Bitcoin’s value exceeded $60,000 for the first time since November 2021, nearing its all-time high of nearly $67,000. This surge marked a remarkable turnaround from January of the same year when Bitcoin was valued at less than $20,000. The digital asset had more than doubled in value in the preceding four months.
The surge in Bitcoin’s value coincided with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval of the first-ever U.S. spot exchange-traded funds in January. This approval opened the floodgates for substantial investments from major financial institutions.
Coinbase, a key player in the cryptocurrency space, has been actively involved in shaping crypto policies in Washington. The company, led by Brian Armstrong, has publicly clashed with the SEC and its Chair, Gary Gensler, while also seeking support from crypto advocates in Capitol Hill.
In 2023, Coinbase allocated $2.9 million for lobbying efforts directed at Congress, the Treasury Department, and the SEC. Their lobbying activities covered crucial issues such as the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2023, and stablecoins, according to federal lobbying data from OpenSecrets.