In a surprising episode that left cryptocurrency investors on the edge of their seats, Coinbase, a leading US-based cryptocurrency exchange, experienced a technical glitch that had a dramatic impact on the value of Bitcoin. The failure occurred at a time of intense market enthusiasm, shortly after Bitcoin surpassed the US$64 mark, attracting unprecedented attention to the trading platform.
The spike in activity triggered by the jump in Bitcoin's price led Coinbase to face an unexpected volume of traffic. This resulted in system overload, leading to crashes that prevented users from viewing the true values of their assets. The sight of zero account balances sparked widespread panic among the cryptocurrency community, shaking up the market significantly.
The immediate consequence of this outage was a sharp drop in the value of Bitcoin, which plummeted from a peak of $64.300 to approximately $59.461 in just one hour. This abrupt move wiped around $100 billion from Bitcoin's market value, as highlighted by cryptocurrency analyst Peruvian Bull, highlighting the magnitude of the impact of Coinbase's failure on the market.
Coinbase glitch that left many users seeing a zero balance erased $100 BILLION of market cap in # Bitcoin in 15 minutes!
H / T @KobeissiLetter pic.twitter.com/G8PC4LMtB9
— Peruvian Bull (@peruvian_bull) February 29, 2024
The reaction from the cryptocurrency community was swift, with many voicing their concerns and demanding answers. Martin Hiesboeck, head of research at Uphold, echoed the sentiment of many by stating that “Coinbase has a lot to answer for” in the face of losses caused by the failure.
In response to the crisis, Coinbase quickly spoke out through a post on X, acknowledging the issues faced by users and seeing zero balances. The exchange assured its users that it was investigating the issue and that assets remained safe despite the display glitches.
We are aware that some users may see a zero balance on their Coinbase account and may experience errors when buying or selling. Our team is investigating this and will provide an update soon. Your assets are safe.
You can follow this incident at http://status.coinbase.com
We are aware that some users may see a zero balance across their Coinbase accounts & may experience errors in buying or selling. Our team is investigating this & will provide an update shortly. Your assets are safe.
You can track this incident at https://t.co/a3pl4WiDhZ— Coinbase Support (@CoinbaseSupport) February 28, 2024
Delivering on its promise of timely updates, Coinbase later reported that account balance viewing issues had been resolved, seeking to restore trust in its platform and cryptocurrency market as a whole. At the time of publication, the BTC price it was quoted at US$62.573,90 with an increase of 5,5% in the last 24 hours.
