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TechBitcoin

Bitcoin: Coinbase Goes Down Amid Skyrocketing Prices

By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
December 7, 2017, 1:03 PM ET

Popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is having a rough Thursday morning amid bitcoin’s huge gain in price.

The company said via Twitter that its service is “currently experiencing record high traffic” that is “resulting in some customers having slow performance or issues logging into their Coinbase.com accounts.”

Although Coinbase didn’t say why it’s experiencing so much traffic, it’s pretty clear it has something to do with bitcoin’s skyrocketing prices over the past few days. The cryptocurrency’s value went past $19,000 on Thursday morning, just hours after it topped $15,000.

We are currently experiencing record high traffic. This is resulting in some customers having slow performance or issues logging into their https://t.co/bCG11KveHS accounts. We are actively working to resolve this as quickly as possible.

— Coinbase 🛡️ (@coinbase) December 7, 2017

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Bitcoin has consistently reached record highs over the past week despite some economists’ concerns about a bitcoin bubble. Meanwhile, other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Ripple were declining in value as of Thursday morning.

Numerous people voiced their frustration over Coinbase’s snafu on Thursday.

If you bought $BTC a few minutes ago @coinbase@CoinbaseSupport you over paid by more than $2,000 per. But of course it is worth it since its web site is usually down and you cannot reach tech support pic.twitter.com/DG7AkLVCfJ

— Peter Brandt (@PeterLBrandt) December 7, 2017

Coinbase trying its hardest to stop the runaway BTC train. pic.twitter.com/FOMIRFuqGB

— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) December 7, 2017

Coinbase keeps crashing on me. Guess lots of people are cashing out (or In, I suppose). pic.twitter.com/t802K3suyo

— briankrebs (@briankrebs) December 7, 2017

Coinbase server pic.twitter.com/A8YVEs70UX

— Gabriele (@Gabry89) December 6, 2017

Some Twitter users also said that other digital asset exchanges like GDAX are also experiences problems.

https://twitter.com/urboijackie/status/938816407067856896

"Price can't crash it you can't sell." – Coinbase/GDAX pic.twitter.com/jxlz8QKkjI

— Rob Paone (@crypto_bobby) December 7, 2017

Coinbase said it is trying to resolve the problem, but it did not say when it would be fixed.

On Wednesday, the popular video game distribution service Steam said it would longer accept bitcoin as a payment method, citing price volatility and rising transaction fees.

About the Author
By Jonathan Vanian
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Jonathan Vanian is a former Fortune reporter. He covered business technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data privacy, and other topics.

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