Coinbase does not deserve to be in business

[Steve Sokolowski]

Steve...

I have just started using prohashing, and I am definitely pleased with the service. To the extent the the Coinbase API starts functioning again, can you clarify how the USD payouts work? I have restrictions with my work on selling digital assets (I have a 6 month hold period) that doesn't apply if I am paid in USD. With those Coinbase payments does the mining account ever have control of the Bitcoin or other digital assets prior to prohashing selling them on Coinbase? If everything is handled by Prohashing through Coinbase, and I simply received USD in my checking account, then It would certainly make things much easier for me!

I am astonished at how poor their customer service is, especially considering their size. Is there any posibility you could do something similar with Kraken?

Thanks for your product!

The money is sent to Coinbase and then sold immediately or shortly afterward. Because Coinbase doesn't allow both of these API calls to be executed simultaneously, the money might be in the Coinbase account for a brief time.

Until this issue is resolved, however, I removed all money from our Coinbase accounts, so you won't receive any money nor will it be sold.

Our current plan is that I contacted 10 cryptocurrency news sites about the problem. If they don't respond, I'm going to contact mainstream media outlets tomorrow. If that doesn't work, then I'm going to file complaints with government consumer protection agencies on Thursday, and I'm going to start E-Mailing the companies that have publicly invested in them to bring this to their attention. This issue is going to be resolved soon, or else there's going to be a huge amount of negative publicity for Coinbase. Again, I apologize for the problem and we're trying as hard as possible to get it resolved.

Unfortunately, Kraken doesn't have an OAuth2 interface. Coinbase's API allows them to restrict the operations businesses can perform. The only way to trade with Kraken would be to request users' private API keys, which would expose us to significant liability because it's not possible to restrict access on them. If Coinbase's API keys are hacked, then the worst that could be done is to sell bitcoins, which doesn't cause a direct loss of money. If Kraken's keys were ever hacked, then the hacker could use them to do anything he wanted with the customer's account, so we aren't willing to take on that risk.

[Splinter]

Thanks for the replies!! The only way I know to link an us bank account to buy/sell btc without to do a wire transfer is Coinbase, Bisq (not so good) and Mycelium. If you guys know another one, please let me know!

[Steve Sokolowski]

Thanks for the replies!! The only way I know to link a us bank account to buy/sell btc without to do a wire transfer is Coinbase, Bisq (not so good) and Mycelium. If you guys know another one, please let me know!

I think I figured out the Coinbase problem myself. My suspicion is that there is a bug in their system. I created a new account to do some testing and found that the new account displays different pages than the previous account did, and that there were some confirmation radio buttons missing in the OAuth app edit page. The buttons were there to confirm that you weren't a gambling business or exchange.

They probably have two interfaces, because their homepage now also looks different on the new account. Many companies test changes on new users first so as not to alienate old users who like the old interface. At reddit, for example, old accounts have a different stylesheet than new accounts. What probably happened is that some tester didn't notice that the web developer forgot to retroactively add these radio buttons on the old page.

I think that their database probably has default values for these columns of "Yes." Since the old account didn't have these listed on the page, it probably saved the app in a state that initialized these new columns to the default, and I wasn't able to change them myself because they weren't there. Coinbase probably locks the accounts of exchanges and gambling businesses for "review," which never happens because their support never replies to tickets.

In this new account, I created an identical app and answered the questions to state that the business isn't a money transmitter and it seems like the app was created successfully. Chris is going to do some testing on this tonight and he may be able to resolve the issue completely by the morning. If it works, then I'll just close the buggy account and this issue will be in the past.

[Splinter]

That's nice... keep it up the good work!
Another subject: I hope to see CryptoNight algo here as well soon

[Steve Sokolowski]

I sent Coinbase a support ticket to a new address I found, on the theory that perhaps the problem with the original account is a paperwork issue. Here's their reply to this one:

Code: Select all

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. I understand your frustrations with this account issue and appreciate your patience.

I’ve documented the information you’ve provided and have escalated this case to a specialist. We will follow-up with you as soon as we have an update.

Please note that while these reviews are typically completed within 5-7 business days, it can sometimes take longer.

Thanks again for your patience with this.

Regards,
Coinbase Support

Regards, 
Coinbase Support

Note that I didn't provide them with any information, as this form response claims. I asked them for information about what paperwork needs to be filed.

[healyc1812]

Has there been any further Progress on this coinbase problem?

[Steve Sokolowski]

Has there been any further Progress on this coinbase problem?

No. No cryptocurrency media outlets picked up this story, unfortunately. That's not surprising, because many of those news sites are owned by Digital Currency Group, which also owns shares in Coinbase. You can see the latest form reply from our latest contact with Coinbase above.

Today, I'm spending time submitting links to this post to social media websites.

Tomorrow, since no cryptocurrency media outlets were interested, I'm going to start contacting mainstream media outlets. Some large newspapers, like the New York Times, have departments that investigate customer service complaints. Perhaps one of these newspapers or stations will latch onto this and see a pattern. I'm hoping that an organization like CNBC might be interested because it cuts against the narrative that Coinbase is trying to promote that they are a growing company with lots of customers and investment. If that doesn't work, then on Monday, October 29 I'm going to submit complaints to government agencies.

What's ridiculous is that we're not complaining about any particular issue with Coinbase, because we don't know whether this is a bug, or whether we violated some policy, or whether there is missing paperwork, or whether they simply are overloaded with support tickets, or whatever. We'd be complaining simply because they won't reply and we don't know.

The problem here is that while we can disconnect Coinbase accounts and pay out bitcoins to normal addresses, the existing dollar balances are more difficult. It's not illegal for us to discontinue dollar payouts and write checks to people for what's owed, but we don't have a bank account to do that from. That's why we need to continue ramping up the pressure on Coinbase until they either write a simple reply to us to figure out what the issue is or this becomes a public relations nightmare for them.

Again, I apologize for how long this is taking. We're working as hard as possible to try to bring this to a resolution as soon as we can.

[Splinter]

I think they are overloaded with support tickets... but whatever the reason, it's unacceptable. I had a problem, sent a ticket and I'm waiting for an answer for more than 3 months. Actually, I'm not even expecting to receive anything anymore... I'm sure my ticket was simply discarded.

[Steve Sokolowski]

I think they are overloaded with support tickets... but whatever the reason, it's unacceptable. I had a problem, sent a ticket and I'm waiting for an answer for more than 3 months. Actually, I'm not even expecting to receive anything anymore... I'm sure my ticket was simply discarded.

I updated the initial post to include more details about a criminal who is preying on people who are desperate for support. You can review that there. I'm also contacting media outlets in the hopes that Coinbase will actually respond, as I promised to do yesterday. If any of them writes a story, I'll post a link here.

Again, thank you to everyone for being patient about this issue, and thanks for your understanding about the reasons behind why we can't pay dollars without getting this problem fixed.

[Steve Sokolowski]

An update on this situation: someone from the real Coinbase finally responded today, but they said they are still working on the issue. They said that they need an internal partner to conduct a review on the account. I'm not sure what suddenly needs a review, given that we've been offering Coinbase payouts since 2014, but at least there seems to be progress.

I'll post more details whenever I hear back from them.