Unexpected Glitch on a Day of Bitcoin’s Rise
During intraday trading on Wednesday, a glitch at Coinbase affected some users as Bitcoin soared to a pinnacle not seen in years. The cryptocurrency exchange acknowledged the glitch and is actively engaged in finding a solution. According to Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong, an unexpected surge in traffic was the culprit behind the outage. For the first time since 2021, Bitcoin surged past $63,000 during intraday trading.
As Bitcoin resurged to levels last seen in November 2021, the high influx of users potentially led to the disruption in Coinbase services, as outlined by a post from co-founder Brian Armstrong on X.
Technical Issues and User Experience
At 9:40 a.m. Pacific Time, a status update on Coinbase’s site assured users that their assets were “safe,” although some might witness a zero balance or face errors when trading. Despite the temporary setback, by 7:15 p.m. Eastern, Coinbase reported full restoration of services, though discrepancies in account balances persisted for some users. Armstrong noted on X that the traffic level was over ten times the tested capacity.
Momentary Price Volatility
Although a direct link is unclear, Bitcoin experienced a sudden drop just minutes before Coinbase disclosed the service interruption. Additionally, an earlier disruption concerning Ethereum network transactions for several Coinbase users was resolved by approximately 1:30 p.m. Eastern, reducing transaction delays.
Stock Market Reactions
Around 3:27 p.m. ET Wednesday, Coinbase shares slightly reduced earlier gains but remained positive, hovering just above $200, having increased by 0.79%. Bitcoin also temporarily dipped below $60,000 before recovering, marking a day-to-day increase of about 5%.
(Update—Feb. 28, 2024: This article has been revised to incorporate the latest outage update from Coinbase, further commentary from CEO Armstrong’s X posts, and updated price movements.)