Consumer complaint received 2021-04-14
Company: Coinbase, Inc.
State: CO
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Virtual currency
Issue: Money was not available when promised

Complaint:
My complaint is for Coinbase, an online platform for buying and selling cryptocurrency. 

I've had an account with Coinbase since XXXX, where I purchased some cryptocurrency. 

Around XX/XX/XXXX, my small-business had its first client pay us in Bitcoin. In order to keep our business financials and our personal financials separate, I opened a new Coinbase account to receive the client payment and earmarked it as our " business '' cryptocurrency account. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I tried to make a purchase of Bitcoin in this " business '' account on Coinbase with funds from our business checking account, but my account was disabled. Coinbase wouldn't tell me why, and eventually after about 15 emails, they said I was banned from using their platform permanently. They gave me no reason why, and they gave me no means to get access to the roughly {$10000.00} I had in this account. 

It seemed that they were confiscating my money with no reason and no recourse. 

Then, I got an email saying the decision was reversed and I could use the account again. 

But the function on my account didn't work for linking my bank account with my Coinbase account, which meant essentially I had NO access to get my money off the Coinbase platform. ( This is still the case at the time I am writing. ) After another 10 emails, it looked like it finally worked and my account Coinbase and business bank account were linked. 

But it wasn't a genuine fix. When I tried to move my money, the link to my bank account no longer worked again. 

By XX/XX/XXXX, I was emailing them again that my account wouldn't work. And now, if my memory serves me correctly on timing ... it was BOTH of my XXXX accounts. My personal account was also now XXXX ( with an estimated {$30000.00} USD of my money inside of it XXXX, and my " business '' account wouldn't link to a bank account where I could remove my money from the Coinbase platform. Essentially, Coinbase had no barred my access to both of my accounts with them and all my money stored on their platform. 

I've now had another TWENTY THREE emails with Coinbase, and they keep giving me instructions that do NOT work to link my bank account. It's like they are taking me around and around in circles, pretending to give me new instructions that will work but do not, and then returning to give me the same instructions from five emails ago that don't work. Around and around and around, but nothing they say works. 

And they won't even address the fact that my personal Coinbase account is disabled completely. I can not get into my personal account with them at all.

So at this point, Coinbase has over {$40000.00} USD of my money ( based on estimate cryptocurrency prices today ), and has been denying me access to my money for over two months, with no reason and no recourse.

As I look at the terms of their agreement more closely, they've basically said they can hold our money hostage for any reason whatsoever, essentially, and never give it back for any reason. 

I absolutely understand that the cryptocurrency I buy on their platform is at risk for changes in valuation, and I could lose all of my money/investment depending on what happens in the market of each cryptocurrency. But having a terms agreement where they can just take all my cryptocurrency or lock me out of my account which is essentially the same thing ... 

This can not be okay. 

Meanwhile, I'm reading about the company going Public and being valued at an expected $ 100B dollars, but as a customer, I am starting to feel like the company is conducting criminal activity in broad daylight. 

How can a financial service firm that holds my money, simply decide to not give it back to me by locking me out of my access to my account and/or by making it impossible for me to transfer or remove my money from their platform? 

Because they already once told me that they were disabling my account permanently for no reason and without recourse to get my money, I am totally scared of them. 

I make about {$75000.00} a year take-home, so you can imagine what an enormous deal it would be if they stole my entire {$40000.00} USD ( based on current crypto valuations that I hold ). 

I see many people online speaking of the same or similar experiences with Coinbase. 

Thank you for considering my compliant.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief