The largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase experienced a system-wide outage on Tuesday, disrupting user access amid fluctuating Bitcoin prices.
The outage, impacting both the website and mobile app, presented users with a “503 Service Temporarily Unavailable” error.
Coinbase announced a full recovery after around four hours.
Coinbase is now fully recovered. We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience. https://t.co/AAzEMPaJGL
— Coinbase Support (@CoinbaseSupport) May 14, 2024
The timing of the outage was particularly problematic for traders, coinciding with notable Bitcoin price changes and raising concerns about Coinbase’s capacity to manage surges in user activity.
I CANT SELL MY COIN IM LOSING MONEY
— arti fex (@artifexmort) May 14, 2024
This is not the first time Coinbase has faced such issues; previous outages have occurred during high trading volumes.
In addition to technical difficulties, Coinbase has faced other challenges, including legal scrutiny.
A U.S. District Court Judge recently ruled that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) lawsuit against Coinbase, which alleges the exchange operates as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency, has sufficient merit to proceed.