I have never used Coinbase before, but this is not the first time that I hear this happens at the most inopportune time. In fact, I think that this is quite common in several CEX (it happened to me a few times in Bittrex several years ago).
Most old users use Coinbase because it is one of the first service companies to provide a friendly-use bitcoin wallet, even though it is centralized, and therefore financial operations were easier to do by linking to the main stock exchange. The CEO’s statement about the congetion on the platform shows the amount of traffic it gets. Do not forget that Coinbase is one of the largest, most important and first platforms to obtain an activity license from the United States, and it enjoys great trust from the crypto community.
With the rise in the price of Bitcoin, the number of users will necessarily increase with the increase in the number of users with new accounts and thus more financial transactions such as transfers and withdrawals. Fortunately, the problem is just a defect in the platform’s internal system, and it will not be difficult to deal with it. But it cannot be denied that the disruption that will occur to users is undeniable, and I am not surprised that some of them may decide to leave the platform permanently.
I read that the volume of Bitcoin withdrawals exceeded $100 billion yesterday before the price fell from 64,000 to 59,000, which would have certainly led to huge losses for a large number of investors who were waiting for the price to not stop rising. The flaw in the Coinbase exchange system could be one of the main reasons that led to this decline.