Quote from: Hydrogen on June 21, 2018, 08:43:11 AM

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Life savings lost. Desperate cries for help. Allegations of fraud.

In the six years since its founding, the San Francisco-based exchange Coinbase has established itself as one of the most trusted places to trade ether, bitcoin, litecoin, and bitcoin cash. It's also run up its share of critics: namely, its customers.

In 134 pages of complaints filed to the SEC and the California Department of Business Oversight obtained by Mashable following a five-month FOIA process, a picture emerges not of a responsible actor in the cryptocurrency space opening the market to new investors, but rather a company overwhelmed by and underprepared for its own success.

And the consequences as expressed by Coinbase's own customers are enough to give even the most diehard crypto-enthusiast pause.

Money gone and no one home
A recurring theme in the SEC complaint files Mashable obtained is the seeming disappearance of a would-be trader's money, and what is portrayed as an aggressive nonchalance on the part of Coinbase in response to the loss.

Notably, the SEC redacted the complaints to remove personally identifiable information. This, while an understandable privacy measure, makes it practically impossible to reach out to the complainants for follow up. As such, we'll mostly let their words speak for themselves.

And there are a lot of words.

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(There are screenshots of individual complaints made against coinbase @ the source link below. All of the complaints look like coinbase freezing accounts or holding peoples money. All of the balances involved look to be larger customers with assets in excess of $5,000.)

https://mashable.com/2018/06/20/sec-coinbase-complaints-fraud/

Maybe I am biased but I remember using coinbase before it became regulated. It worked fine. I never heard a single complaint about coinbase when it was an unregulated exchange. It seems to me that coinbase didn't become a corrupt institution until after they became regulated which could hint @ regulation being a bad thing for bitcoin and crypto in general.

Also does anyone know the name of a good crypto exchange US residents can use to help decentralize the american crypto market away from coinbase's attempts @ centralization btw?

This may be the first time I heard complaints against coinbase. This maybe a move taken by US to formally wage war against ICO and upcoming cryptocurrency to circulate on the market.