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Coinbase exchange down again as Bitcoin price nears all-time high

  • Bitcoin price is nearing the $69,000 peak amid a broader market rally, with meme coins standing as top gainers.
  • After a recent crash,  Coinbase exchange is making headlines again as users report zero balances.
  • Coinbase support cites latency, acknowledging the incident, and assuring of users funds being safe

Coinbase Exchange, the largest trading platform in the US is making headlines again for the wrong reasons, as users complain of zero balances on their accounts and lag in transactions.

Ascribed to a flurry of trading activities, the platform's customer support has acknowledged the incident, assuring users that their funds are safe.

This is the second time in less than two weeks that the platform is crashing in the middle of a rally. Bitcoin price is on course to its $69,000 peak, amid rising trading volume and a broader market optimism.

Bitcoin, altcoins, stablecoins FAQs

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, a virtual currency designed to serve as money. This form of payment cannot be controlled by any one person, group, or entity, which eliminates the need for third-party participation during financial transactions.

What are altcoins?

Altcoins are any cryptocurrency apart from Bitcoin, but some also regard Ethereum as a non-altcoin because it is from these two cryptocurrencies that forking happens. If this is true, then Litecoin is the first altcoin, forked from the Bitcoin protocol and, therefore, an “improved” version of it.

What are stablecoins?

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to have a stable price, with their value backed by a reserve of the asset it represents. To achieve this, the value of any one stablecoin is pegged to a commodity or financial instrument, such as the US Dollar (USD), with its supply regulated by an algorithm or demand. The main goal of stablecoins is to provide an on/off-ramp for investors willing to trade and invest in cryptocurrencies. Stablecoins also allow investors to store value since cryptocurrencies, in general, are subject to volatility.

What is Bitcoin Dominance?

Bitcoin dominance is the ratio of Bitcoin's market capitalization to the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies combined. It provides a clear picture of Bitcoin’s interest among investors. A high BTC dominance typically happens before and during a bull run, in which investors resort to investing in relatively stable and high market capitalization cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. A drop in BTC dominance usually means that investors are moving their capital and/or profits to altcoins in a quest for higher returns, which usually triggers an explosion of altcoin rallies.

This section below was published on February 28 at 18:49 GMT, around the time when news of the Coinbase Exchange crash broke.

Post-traumatic stress from the FTX cryptocurrency exchange debacle has crypto investors on the edge of their seats on Wednesday after Coinbase exchange crashed as users reported zero balance on their accounts.

Also Read: Bitcoin shatters $63,000 as Jim Cramer posses a rhetoric on BTC value for mankind

Coinbase exchange is down down

Amid the trading frenzy on Wednesday, which saw Bitcoin price rise to scrape $64,000, Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the US, crashed. Co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong acknowledged the incident, citing a “LARGE surge of traffic.”

The platform’s customer support also reassured customers that while there could be errors in buying or selling, customer funds were safe.  The reassurance came as some users reported zero balances despite having voluminous balances in their accounts.

Meanwhile, the CNBC crypto trader and founder of Crypto Banter, Ran Neuner, attributes the downtime to a “full tilt bull market frenzy!!”

With the current craze in the market, it is unsurprising to see servers crash because of excessive traffic. FXStreet team will bring reports once Coinbase support confirms that normalcy is restored and the situation is resolved.

Bitcoin price retracted from the $64,000 peak to a low of $58,200, effectively wiping almost $100 billion off Bitcoin market capitalization as news of the crash broke. 

Author

Lockridge Okoth

Lockridge is a believer in the transformative power of crypto and the blockchain industry.

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