After Outages, Coinbase Admits 'Shortcomings' — and Has Messsage for New Investors

With Bitcoin’s value surging by 25% in less than a week, Coinbase has issued a warning to newcomer investors: be careful.

Striking a serious note during a time of celebration, the exchange’s CEO and co-founder Brian Armstrong stressed that cryptocurrencies can be a “volatile asset class” that can move up or down in the blink of an eye.

Although Armstrong market rallies are great — and renewed interest in crypto is exciting — he urged consumers to know what they’re doing before they pour money into Bitcoin when its price is at a record high. He wrote in a blog post:

“While we offer a full range of trading tools for traders to take advantage of market conditions, we likewise caution investors who may be focusing on short-term speculation and encourage customers to seek out resources and consult financial advisors to better understand the risks associated with investing in cryptocurrencies.”

Armstrong also (in a rather subtle way) addressed the outages that Coinbase suffered on Wednesday when Bitcoin smashed through the previous all-time high of $20,089. The platform has frequently experienced disruption when there have been big price moves, leaving disgruntled traders unable to complete transactions. Insisting that the company is determined to provide customers with high levels of security, trust and transparency, he wrote:

“During periods of extreme demand — like those we’re witnessing right now as a result of the current market rally — we work tirelessly to deliver on this promise. Although we may occasionally fall short, we will always do our best to address our shortcomings.”

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