Consumer complaint received 2021-10-10
Company: Coinbase, Inc.
State: VA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Virtual currency
Issue: Other transaction problem

Complaint:
This complaint is based on the same events as another complaint previously submitted by my husband ( CFPB # XXXX ). In their response to his complaint, Coinbase claimed that their Privacy Policy prevented them from commenting on another individuals account, and failed to provide any specific non-discriminatory explanation for the disparate treatment I describe below. As a result, I am resubmitting our complaint under my name to reopen the issue. 

In XXXX XXXX and XX/XX/XXXXXXXX, my husband and I decided to invest in cryptocurrency and chose to create wallets with Coinbase. As Coinbase does not support jointly owned wallets, we created one for both myself and my husband at the same time, with the intent of investing equally within both wallets. 

From the very first day we became customers of Coinbase, we observed multiple examples of disparate treatment in how Coinbase treated me ( a XX/XX/XXXX female ) and my husband ( XX/XX/XXXX male ) as customers, even though both accounts were created at the same time, and we attempted to invest in these accounts equally. Specifically : When we first created our wallets on the same day, XXXX XXXX, XXXX my husbands wallet was established as verified by just answering a few questions, whereas my wallet required me to upload my drivers license to verify my identity. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, my first attempts to purchase cryptocurrency were denied by Coinbase due to a suspicious activity warning, whereas my husbands attempts to purchase the same amounts of the same cryptocurrency on the same day went through without any problem. We made a request for online support the same day, and we did not receive a reply from Coinbase support until three months later a generic response that provided no specific explanation for why my purchase attempts had been denied. Our support case was closed a few days later with no resolution provided. 

On or around XX/XX/XXXX, my ability to send and receive cryptocurrency to external accounts was removed entirely, and I had to upload my drivers license ( again ) and take a webcam photo to verify my identity. At this point, my husband still had not had to provide any proof of his identity at all, and was able to fully access his wallet and buy cryptocurrency throughout without any limitation in service. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, after this second round of verification of my identity ( and after Coinbase had a photo of me in their system ), I found that my ability to buy cryptocurrency from a separate bank account had been limited from $ XXXX/day to only $ XXXXday, with no explanation provided for this change and no justification in the online documentation. My husbands bank transfer limits remained unchanged at $ XXXXday throughout. 

We made a request from online support to return my bank transfer limits to where they had been ( and where my husbands remained ), and we received an email a few days later saying that our request was denied, again with no specific explanation or remedy. 

Coinbase has a responsibility to ensure that their system does not discriminate against any protected basis. As a result of their discriminatory acts, which happened at a time when Bitcoin prices were rising dramatically, I was unable to purchase the same amount of cryptocurrency as my husband was. As a result, my wallet has approximately 1/3 of the overall investment in Bitcoin that my husband was able to invest in. 

In addition to the above described discriminatory acts, Coinbase has no real option for phone support, so consumers have no recourse but to send an email or complete an online form and hope for a response. In our case, the responses we eventually received from customer service were unspecific, unhelpful, and completely ignored or failed to address our underlying issues. We have since realized through numerous complaints we have seen online that Coinbase has gotten away without providing customer service since the companys inception. 

My husband and I have detailed documentation and evidence supporting the claims made above, and will be happy to provide them if needed.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief