Coinbase, the prominent U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, faced a significant system-wide outage on May 14, 2024, rendering its services temporarily inaccessible to users.
The outage, which began around 4:15 AM UTC, affected customers’ ability to send or withdraw cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies.
TLDR
- Coinbase, one of the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchanges, experienced a system-wide outage on May 14, 2024, affecting customers’ ability to send or withdraw cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies.
- The outage began around 4:15 AM UTC and lasted for approximately 3 hours, with Coinbase assuring users that their funds were safe during the disruption.
- While Coinbase’s services were fully restored at 7:42 AM UTC, some users might still experience degraded performance when sending crypto or withdrawing fiat.
- This is not the first time Coinbase has faced outages, with a similar incident occurring on February 28 due to a surge in crypto trading activity.
- Despite the outage, investment banking firm KBW recently raised its price target for Coinbase’s stock (COIN) to $230, citing the company’s potential to capitalize on the long-term growth of the crypto economy.
Throughout the incident, Coinbase kept its users informed through updates on its status page and social media channels. The exchange acknowledged the “major outage” and assured users that their funds were safe despite the disruption in services.
The outage caused the Coinbase website to display a “503 Service Temporarily Unavailable” error message, indicating that the servers were either undergoing maintenance or experiencing an overload of traffic.
This error message is commonly associated with situations where the servers are unable to handle the current load of requests.
After approximately three hours of downtime, Coinbase announced that its services had been restored at 7:42 AM UTC.
Coinbase is experiencing a system wide outage. We are investigating this issue and working on a solution. Please see https://t.co/a3pl4WiDhZ for updates. Your funds are safe.
— Coinbase Support (@CoinbaseSupport) May 14, 2024
The exchange cautioned that some users might still experience degraded performance when attempting to send cryptocurrencies or withdraw fiat currencies.
This is not the first time Coinbase has encountered such service disruptions. On February 28, the exchange, along with several other platforms, faced temporary outages due to a surge in cryptocurrency trading activity.
While frustrating for users, some within the cryptocurrency community view these incidents as a bullish sign, suggesting that the heightened activity causing the downtime could ultimately benefit the market price.
Despite the recent outage, Coinbase continues to receive positive assessments from industry analysts. Last month, investment banking firm KBW raised its price target for Coinbase’s stock (COIN) to $230, maintaining its market performance rating.
KBW cited Coinbase’s unique position to capitalize on the long-term growth potential of the crypto economy as the primary reason for the increased target.
Coinbase’s journey has not been without regulatory challenges. Just last month, Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that the SEC’s lawsuit against Coinbase can proceed. The SEC’s lawsuit alleges that Coinbase operates as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency.
In her ruling, Judge Failla stated that the SEC had “plausibly” pleaded that Coinbase engages in the unregistered offer and sale of securities through its staking program.
This legal battle adds another layer of complexity to Coinbase’s operations and highlights the ongoing regulatory scrutiny faced by the cryptocurrency industry.
