Coinbase says user activity normalizing after balances fall to 0
A smartphone with a displayed Coinbase logo and representation of cryptocurrencies are placed on a keyboard in this illustration taken on June 8, 2023. (Reuters Photo)


The cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase said user activity was normalizing after a brief issue with its system on Wednesday that caused some users to see zero balances across their accounts.

Some users reported on social media that they saw a zero balance across their accounts and experienced difficulties in buying and selling crypto assets.

"We are dealing with a LARGE surge of traffic. We apologize for any issues you encounter. The team is working to remediate," CEO and co-founder at Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Coinbase later said on X that it was beginning to see an improvement in customer trading but added that "due to increased traffic, some customers may still see login errors, sends, receives and with some payment methods. Rest assured, your funds are safe."

"We are starting to see Coinbase.com activity normalizing. We will continue to monitor our systems and provide updates," it later wrote on X around 4 p.m. EDT (8 p.m. GMT).

Coinbase is the biggest cryptocurrency exchange platform in the U.S. in terms of trading volume.

The issues on the platform started after the price of Bitcoin surpassed the $60,000 level around 8:30 a.m. EDT for the first time in more than two years.

Bitcoin saw its price jumping to almost $64,000 around 12:05 p.m. EDT before suddenly diving to $58,700 at 12:30 p.m. EDT.

The massive price fluctuation is estimated to have caused more than $600 million in liquidations for all assets in the crypto market.

It was trading around $60,500 at 4:45 p.m. EDT for a daily gain of 6.4%.