Publicly traded cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase experienced a system error shortly after Bitcoin (BTC) broke the $63,000 barrier for the first time since November 2021. The fault caused customers to see a zero balance displayed on their Coinbase wallets for approximately two hours. At press time, the fault has been resolved.
Coinbase Experiences Hours-Long Glitch
Shortly after several Coinbase users began complaining about the zero balance glitch, the crypto exchange published a notice via its status page:
“We are aware that some users may see a zero balance across their Coinbase accounts and may experience errors in buying or selling. Our team is investigating this issue and will provide an update shortly. Your assets are safe.”
Following investigations, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong disclosed that the glitch occurred due to a massive “surge of traffic.” The increased engagement might be a result of vigorous buying and selling actions amid Bitcoin’s sudden price spike to nearly $64,000.
Notably, Coinbase faced a similar glitch mid-last year. Users now question the crypto exchange’s scalability to handle a surge in increased transactions.
After a two-hour delay, the Coinbase app began recovering from its glitch. Armstrong explained that the latest surge surpassed the capacity that the Coinbase developer team programmed the crypto trading platform to handle. The system was initially tested with load and traffic ten times its regular traffic, but the recent engagement surge exceeded that calculation.
The Coinbase boss noted that keeping its platform over-provisioned is expensive, a statement that did not sit well with several users. Overprovisioning involves allocating more storage space or computing resources to a system than is required, aiding better performance.
BTC Breaks $62k
The flourishing spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) has fueled the latest bull run, bringing BTC closer to its all-time high (ATH). Recall that Coinbase plays a key role as a crypto custodian for investment companies offering these financial products that have brought Bitcoin to the spotlight.
At the time of writing, BTC traded at $62,000, representing an 8.1% increase in the last 24 hours.
Source: (CoinStats)
