Topic: Coinbase is not safe! (Read 243 times)

"Safe" except for all those people who lost millions due to SIM swap SE attacks. A big company like Coinbase should have known better than to allow it's users to use SMS as 2FA. I also recall many complaints with orders not going through during bigger price movements, usually to the disadvantage of the user.

I am sure the world will change by itself, no matter if we try to change it or not because that is the natural process. Many people use coinbase, but other people do not use coinbase because they have their favorite exchange, and they don't get any problem until now. We can select which exchange can make us feel comfortable because the comfort will be the thing that we need to use the exchange.

And it's because they're so regulated by the US government that they are actually "safe".  Ever since I've been a member of this forum, I've seen tons of scams perpetrated by exchanges that weren't regulated, and with basically no oversight they were free to steal their customers' funds with impunity.

And yes, Coinbase can terminate anybody's account, and they don't have to give you a reason--but I don't think I've ever read about cases where closed accounts resulted in lost funds on Coinbase.  That's not something a highly-regulated exchange could get away with.  Compare that to an exchange like Yobit.  It's remarkable that they haven't pulled an exit scam yet.

Yes, I had that happen to me with Coinbase and I didn't lose my bitcoin.

OP, I understand the concerns you have, which basically amount to privacy issues.  Even if I could reinstate my Coinbase account, I wouldn't--and for the reasons you pointed out.  I don't like banks or anyone else watching what I'm doing with my money.

They monitor all their customers' transactions because they have to comply with the laws and regulations of the country from where they operate or from where their customers are. They have to do so to prevent using their services in illegal activities such as money laundering.

Simply read the ToS of any platform before using it and you will be safe.

This isn't new if you don't know that already. If you don't want to be monitored, then you should avoid using the exchange. Other exchange are also regulated. It's good for the exchange but bad for users. They have been taken over by so many government policies.

Well they don't feel the problem because they are malinformed. The point of sharing knowledge is to improve this space and keep the path true to the original vision. If we don't point out these things and remain zealous about privacy, decentralization and P2P, the world will not change at all.

Personally I had issue with coinbase valut funds access, I didn't get any response from coinbase support for my multiple emails to their different possible contact options since when I stopped using it completely.Any centralized exchange can block your transactions for any reasons if they want and its clearly mentioned in their terms so if we don't want to get tracked then go to decentralized and p2p exchanges.

Yes but Coinbase has the most effective surveillance and control over customers. The decentralized exchanges are on the rise.

here is a better approach---learn to compartmentalize your activities.

what most people do is consolidate all their coins from different sources into a single wallet and then blindly spend them, exposing all of their funds and blockchain history to adversaries like coinbase. these people do nothing to hide their activities from third parties, making themselves low hanging fruit for AML algorithms and probing exchanges.

this leads to 2 polarized conclusions: 1. "play by the rules" or 2. "coinbase is the devil!!!1!1 #deletecoinbase!!!11!1!"

neither of which is correct IMO.

keep in mind that virtually all exchanges are deeply analyzing all of your blockchain activities. yes, binance and bitmex and bittrex and gemini are doing it too, not just coinbase. your funds are always at risk. fixating on coinbase only serves to lead noobs astray, making them think that other exchanges are safe from these things when they simply aren't at all.

back to my initial point. users need to approach third party services with all of this in mind, knowing any outputs deposited or withdrawn will be analyzed several hops out. coinbase is perfectly usable as an exchange---they have awesome liquidity, good UI, free USDC/USD conversion, lightning fast bank withdrawals---but you need to be very aware of their legal/tax obligations and their AML policies.

this is where compartmentalization comes in. if you know how to separate your coins based on source, you do not need to "play by the rules" with all of your bitcoins---only the ones that can be linked to your identity. pay your taxes on coins you sell on coinbase, surely, but your off the book activities where there is no KYC and no tax reporting? paying taxes on that is for suckers! so is getting your accounts closed for withdrawing from casinos and sportsbooks and things like that.

if you're gonna be lazy and reckless about your privacy, stay away from coinbase---you will fall into the typical AML/KYC pitfalls. on the other hand, if you are smart about how you use your bitcoins and interface with coinbase, there is no problem at all with using them.

Not just Coinbase those platform are not safe which want KYC for their exchange. That's why people need decentralized exchanges. It's true that still decentralized exchanges are straggling but in my opinion this is the best way to solve that kinda problem. Centralized exchanges can make you uncomfortable with their sudden updates. But if you are a small trader then you can use popular centralized exchange which not ask kyc for limited amount.

Well, there is no safety on the centralized and custodial wallet. If there is any reputable exchange in your local than this I perhaps suggest avoiding this wallet in my own opinion. Regulations are most common is a centralized wallet most especially in a country that heavily strict when it comes to taxing their community.

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Well, this is a different story here, --I don't see any valid reason why they watch your transaction. Unless if you are scammer or high profile account that perhaps abide on money laundering.

Most exchanges require KYC, it’s just the way it’s gone. We really can’t have it both ways, if we want full mainstream adoption & acceptance by banks etc we’re going to need to play by the rules, pay our taxes etc.

Just because they do this does not mean they are not safe. Most centralized crypto platform are being regulated and subject to financial regulations of the country in which they are based and this is the reason why as a user you need to read their term of services before sign off. If you are not involve in any shady business and you always receive clean coin, it is good to use. As a beginner, I will always suggest coinbase because you can easily recover your login details in case you forget your password

I use Coinbase, it’s true that they regulate every single transection but I think we are benefiting from this, if you transfer any amount of BTC from Coinbase to another Coinbase then they will take 0% transection fees. you may know if Coinbase suspend any account they will refund full fund of that account. If they were decentralized, they would not refund anything. Another thing is that most exchanges are centralized.

I'm using coinbase since 2017, still it didn't asked for kyc yet. Bitcoin is banned in my country that's why I can't withdraw my bitcoin money directly to bank. For that we need to sell bitcoins to someone who need it, than they send money though mobile banking which is the easiest way for us. In that process if we send the btc to coinbase email address than there is no fee. For that we are very used to it. But for my holding I use the electrum wallet. Btw thanks for this notice.

And people should really anticipate these kind of stuffs that would happen anytime yet these centralized platforms would always have the tendency when it comes on changing up policies or rules.

Also it isnt something new nor a shocking thing for such issues when dealing up into these places.Just remember that anytime we do make use of these platforms then theres always an accompanied risk

and on case with Coinbase then it isnt an exclusion but somewhat it doesnt mean that they are bad at all.

It's no longer news that Coinbase is a centralized platform / exchange. I'm no surprised that they enact full control over their customer's funds. Some of the products that coinbase offers requires them to be. For instance, Buying Bitcoin or altcoins straight from your bank account. To better utilize coinbase, just use it to buy bitcoin and thereafter, store them in your own wallet using your private key.


Just because Coinbase is centralized doesn't mean their service is trash. Sure, they do have their advantages and disadvantages. Placing restrictions on  customers account prevented losses but then, it does have its downside.

Probably giving your information to these companies always have its risk and for a lot of users, it's a big deal giving this information so they just sticking to some wallet that doesn't have KYC.

Exchange like coinbase could always freeze your account because they are centralized but i guess they are licensed so their are small chance of really encountering problems.

Every exchange that required KYC which the users approved of in able them to manage an account should know the risks when providing their personal information to the exchange. CB even offers IRS crypto surveillance tools, so from what data they will track? Ofc from them first, though they said that they're not using CB customer's data, so how their users know that they are not being surveyed?

Use a decentralized exchange to avoid that, or say, binance since its okay to trade without providing KYC there. As long you don't reach the 2 btc limit.

Coinbase is a centralized exchange and a custodial wallet. Therefore, they have to regulate transactions and they have the right to suspend/terminate/block an account. I wouldn't be surprised to see coinbase blocking an account, however, when they block account, they give back the fund.
Centralize services have benefits as well. For instance, due to being a certralize service, coinbase was able to counteract transactions to the twitter hack and scam. You must have to give a big thanks to them.