Consumer complaint received 2025-08-13 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Virtual currency
Issue: Other transaction problem — 
Company: Coinbase, Inc.
State: IL

Complaint narrative:
Coinbase is engaging in deceptive and unfair practices by allowing customers to deposit funds and purchase cryptocurrency with a payment method, then blocking withdrawals to that same method under an undisclosed internal risk policy. This practice effectively traps customer funds, forces loss-heavy workarounds, and creates unnecessary financial harm. 

Details : I deposited funds into Coinbase using my payment method, purchased cryptocurrency, and later attempted to withdraw funds to that same method. Coinbase refused, citing an internal risk policy. This policy is not disclosed in Coinbases public terms or user agreements. Customers have no way to know about it until their funds are already trapped. 

Because of this, on XX/XX/XXXX, I was forced to take the following costly workaround to access my own money : XXXX AM Coinbase buy : {$430.00} total ( includes spread + {$8.00} fee ) XXXX PM Coinbase send : XXXX XXXX ; network fee {$0.00} deducted XXXX PM Cash App receive : XXXX XXXX ( {$420.00} ) XXXX PM Cash App sell : Gross {$420.00}, minus {$7.00} fee {$410.00} net Net forced loss : {$20.00} ( Coinbase fee {$8.00} + blockchain fee {$0.00} + Cash App fee {$7.00} + price impact ) solely because Coinbase would not allow me to withdraw directly to my original payment method. 

Additional Financial Harm : I signed up for Coinbase XXXX for a single month at a discounted promotional rate. Despite that, Coinbase continued charging me {$24.00} per month for three additional months ( total {$74.00} ) without my knowledge or consent. The subscription was never knowingly renewed or used, and I did not authorize ongoing charges. 

This also demonstrates that the problem I experienced being unable to withdraw my own funds would have occurred even with a priority subscription, showing that Coinbase XXXX did not provide any meaningful resolution or faster handling of my case. Given the unnecessary hardship and lost time caused by Coinbases actions, refunding these charges is the least they can do. 

Complaint Handling Issues : Coinbase also engages in obstructive support practices : They prematurely close active complaints without resolving the underlying issue. 
They restrict customer access to escalation contacts, preventing follow-up, and forcing customers to restart the process with a new case number. 
Customer service gives a rotating list of excuses from its a glitch in the system, to we need you to re-verify your identity, to this is something we are working on, to its working fine on our end, and now finally its a risk policy. 
This has wasted hours of my time, causing me to make five separate contacts lasting stretches of hours at a time, chatting with customer service with zero resolution. As of today, XX/XX/XXXX, it has been almost XXXX month since the issue began on XX/XX/XXXX without resolution. 

This conduct causes delays, creates unnecessary burdens for consumers, and results in further financial harm.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief