Consumer complaint received 2018-01-30
Company: Coinbase, Inc.
State: FL
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem

Complaint:
XX/XX/2018 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, DC XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX To Whom it may concern : My name is XXXX XXXX XXXX and I live at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, FL XXXX. My birth date is XX/XX/XXXX and you of course have access to my XXXX   drivers license and Social Security number. Two current phone numbers are XXXX and XXXX. Here is my complaint. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I started to open an online account with Coinbase.com. I chose them as they were the only one operating within the U.S. and there was extensive information about them online. Since they and their partner company the XXXX, were operating as an online Brokers of International Currencies like the XXXX XXXX ; I assumed they had to meet a LOT of regulations to gain a license for the XXXX or XXXX XXXX XXXX. Not being familiar with laws regulating our Federal Reserve System, I was rather concerned that our Federal Government was saying they would not regulate Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency as their legal tactic would be to not acknowledge it's existence at all. Looking at the big picture, your agency knew 10 years ago that it placed you in an awkward position between the American consumer ; and our Federal Banking system that sought to prevent people from using a radically different currency not backed by a recognized country. Well, the time has arrived that our Government can no longer play stupid. By allowing a corporation that trades in Billions of dollars daily to operate within the U.S. as an online broker, our government has given a " De Facto '' acknowledgment of not only Cryptocurrency 's existence, but permission for it to transact with our legal currency. It simply never got around to it's regulation, due to such a hatred of it's effect on our financial system. This means there will be a large, intense Supreme Court battle over the negligence of our Congress and Senate, but particularly the entire Executive branch of government. The American people will rather upset they can't sue Banks or their own Government for such negligence. Mayhem and likely a 2nd civil war will follow. ( maybe not, our success has made us particularly ignorant and lazy, as our President has pointed out many times ) But I digress. 

While filling out all the personal and financial information necessary to open an account with Coinbase, there came a page where they reccommended I use a two-step authorization process to sign into my account. I thought about it, as I had only possessed an Android phone for a year, and was worried about my technical skills should something go wrong. But concerns for the safety of my money overruled that, and I joined up for the 2 step authorization process. I gave them permission for direct ACH access to my XXXX  XXXX XXXX checking account, as that was the only way to transfer amounts greater than {$750.00} according to them. ( I know, warning bells should have been going off in my head ) They started to send me confirmation e-mails which I have attached to this document. I had given them as my main E-mail XXXX and I see by their e-mails that on XX/XX/XXXX they acknowledge my purchase of XXXX Ethereum for {$300.00}, which takes 5 business days according to their rules. I also began to open an account with their trading platform called XXXX, and began having problems. I couldn't seem to get a clear enough photo of my driver 's license to meet their account identity rules, so I was unable to access their trading website until XX/XX/XXXX. Nevertheless, I started a purchase of XXXX Litecoins on XX/XX/XXXX for {$4800.00}. This purchase was acknowledged on XX/XX/XXXX, along with acknowledgment of another {$5000.00} deposit started. ( again, everything takes 5 days despite the ACH link ) I also see XXXX e-mails sent to me from XXXX trying to assist me in gettting my photo to them, which after many e-mails and complaints by me they acknowledged receipt of an acceptable photo on XX/XX/XXXX. ( I'll attach all e-mails I have to and from them, I see I made the mistake of deleting some of them ) On XX/XX/XXXX they acknowledge the purchase of XXXX more Litecoins for the amount of {$3600.00}. On XX/XX/XXXX I took a snapshot of the coinbase account showing I had XXXX U.S. dollars in my account, with {$10000.00} more being sent from my bank account. I think the {$15000.00} number is showing what I had sent and was already in my account up to that point. Because I had already purchsed XXXX Litecoins by that point, and the dollar amount left would have been approximatly {$6200.00} due to both the Litecoins and the XXXX Ethereum I had purchased. I also took a snapshot of the XXXX account showing the XXXX Litecoins and {$5000.00} cash in that account. 

On that same day, XX/XX/XXXX, I placed a stop order for the XXXX Litecoins at {$100.00} ; in order to test whether their trading system was on the up and up. ( It had reached {$100.00} and was dropping ) Sure enough, it got sold during the night, and my XXXX account was showing a little over {$25000.00} in cash, with one Ethereum still left at the coinbase website. Now come the problems. I did not purchase back the Litecoins, and Coinbase decided it was time to put on a show. Between Thursday XX/XX/XXXX and Monday XX/XX/XXXX Litecoin went from {$98.00} to {$370.00}. But this was not the problem for me. I had been having problems with my XXXX XXXX XXXX  for about a week and stupidly took the advice from a XXXX  E-mail to a " hard reset '' of the phone should all else fail. I ended up doing just that. Mistake! I was locked out of my phone, and even XXXX the Manufacturer could not help me. They claimed I had to take it to a XXXX XXXX to flash the BIOS or what passes for that in an Android phone. Turned out the closest XXXX XXXX was an authorized XXXX repair facility, I could drive an hour either North or South to leave the phone at one of those XXXX XXXX XXXX. I started writing E-mails to Coinbase, as when I called them they honestly stated they could respond in a timely manner ( which in my case meant 4 weeks ), and would hang up. When I posted my problem on their website, I got the same response, they could not respond in a timely manner even to e-mails! On XX/XX/XXXX they sent out this e-mail probably to everyone, " In an effort to more quickly respond to requests, directly emailing XXXX is no longer enabled. ''!!! As if to rub salt in the wound, they had also sent out an e-mail on XX/XX/XXXX to all their customers requesting that they " Please invest responsibly '' and proceeded to explain why they could not provide adequate customer service as they had taken on hundreds of thosands of accounts without increasing their support staff proportionally. Hmmm. Talk about the height of hypocrisy. They were acting like they were the XXXX or XXXX, largely unaccountable to their customers, despite opening the only cryptocurrency market within the U.S. border! The Banks were particularly jealous, THEY WERE REGULATED!!! There were laws preventing them from Trading billions dollars without safety or consumer protections being already in place. I of course was livid, as you can tell by my language in the e-mails I sent them, trying to gain access to my account. To no avail. They repeatedly sent me instructions to follow, which I did, and would get the response my e-mail was not linked to my account, so they could not begin to Identify me. And of course since both my home phone, and now my cell phone had changed, they would not call me either. I tried opening a new XXXX account, they would not respond to that one also. But they DID acknowledge receiving my {$10000.00} deposit on XX/XX/XXXX ... .... Hmmm. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received and E-mail from them acknowedging the receipt of mine sent on XX/XX/XXXX that I had been locked out for 4 days. They even sent an e-mail claiming that due to their mistake of taking on too many customers, they would prioritze those customers who had been locked out of their account first! They never contacted me directly through e-mail or phone call. ( I had sent them 2 of my new phone numbers ) They were of course in possession of all 7 of my unique identifiers as that what it took just to open an account. On XX/XX/XXXX I sent them a rather nasty e-mail stating I had locked out for 10 days, an eternity in the trading world, they completely ignored this and all future e-mails from me. Let 's go back to the XX/XX/XXXX 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted the XXXX XXXX XXXX and talked to XXXX and then XXXX to explain what was going on. They said they could perform a " reverse '' of the ACH deposits to Coinbase.com and I stated that probably wouldn't be accurate or legal within the financial world. Since I had profited from my sale of the Litecoin by about {$1700.00}, and still possesed XXXX   Ethereum, they were going to owe me more. She stated this was all they could do on their end, and I said OK, do it. I wasn't too worried about Coinbase trying to steal my remaining money, as had I lost 5 or {$10000.00}, they of course would never have sent back the original amounts transfered from my account at XXXX. They would have followed their own rules outlined in the terms of agreement I had to digitally sign on order to open an account. So obviously I expect them to follow their OWN written agreement! TODAY ( XX/XX/XXXX ) they sent me 2 e-mails stating they are closing my account for the following reason, '' Upon careful review, we believe your account has engaged in prohibited use in violation of our Terms of Service and we regret to inform you that we can no longer provide you with access to our service. We respectfully request that you follow the on-screen instructions presented when you log into your Coinbase account to send any remaining balance offsite to an external address. '' Should you have any questions or need assistance, please let us know and we'll be happy to help. '' HILARIOUS! You will notice they are not about to elaborate on how I violated their terms of service. 

This is rather humorous since I have not been able to sign in or access my account for over 30 days now, and therefore can not send my remaining money anywhere. I can not contact them in any way shape or form, and they have completly ignored my pleas for them TO contact me. Not only is this in breach of contract, but obviously illegal ; and I would like to sue them for {$100000.00}. But since the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled it is OK to lock the consumer out of the 3rd branch of Government by allowing Corporations to refuse to do business, unless the consumer signs away his rights, I am forced into arbitration. I would like some advice on how to do this, as Coinbase is looking to avoid any contact with me.

I would also request for my sake and probably thousands of others for the Dept. of Justice to shut them down immediately, as had any Bank or Insurance company did what they have done, and are continuing to do today is obviously illegal, or grossly negligent. They are handling Billions of U.S. dollars monthly and trading Billions of dollars daily, I'm sure our citizens outrage will be showing up on XXXX XXXX   soon. I await your response. 

Sincerly Yours, XXXX XXXX XXXX CC : finCEN.gov Post Notes : On XX/XX/XXXX the XXXX  XXXX XXXX successfully transferred back into my checking account the amount of {$23000.00}, which would be about {$1300.00} less than the amount showing in my XXXX account before I became locked out. Also there is still the XXXX Ethereum left in the Coinbase account which as of today is worth {$1100.00}. Rather than send 40 sheets of paper through the mail, perhaps I could transfer all these e-mails directly to you, avoiding a paper waste. Perhaps I should note that all of this occurred 2 months after my mother 's XXXX, and that given the added paperwork I was already having to deal with, it was a bad idea to get involved with this venture in the first place.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation