• Coinbase suffered a glitch on Wednesday that left many users seeing a zero balance in their account.
• Bitcoin saw its price drop by about $2,800 in a matter of minutes as reports of an outage surfaced.
• “We are aware that some users may see a zero balance across their Coinbase accounts and may experience errors in buying or selling,” the company said in a statement to CNBC.

 

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase faced technical glitches on Wednesday as Bitcoin, the world’s leading cryptocurrency, surged to its highest value in over two years. Coinbase Support assured users of the safety of their funds during the incident, attributing the problem to a zero balance display and buying/selling errors. The platform, however, did not disclose the cause of the outage.

Coinbase’s website and mobile app were affected, temporarily disabling buy, sell, trade, and transfer functions. Brian Armstrong, the co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, apologized for the disruption, citing a significant surge in traffic and ensuring that the team was actively working on a resolution.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin surpassed $60,000 for the first time since November 2021, nearing its all-time high of nearly $67,000. The digital asset’s remarkable turnaround since January, when it was valued at less than $20,000, has been fueled by a more than doubled value in the past four months.

The surge in Bitcoin’s price coincided with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of the first U.S. spot exchange-traded funds in January, attracting substantial investments from major financial institutions. Coinbase, a major player in the crypto space, has been actively involved in advocating for crypto policies in Washington. In 2023, the company spent $2.9 million lobbying Congress, the Treasury Department, and the SEC on various issues, reflecting the industry’s rapid growth and Coinbase’s engagement with regulatory bodies.