Ethereum Dev Sees Coinbase Account ‘Nuked’ After Attempting USDC Transfer

“Coinbase just locked my account after trying to send $25,000 USDC,” reported Ethereum developer Eric Connor on Dec. 3.

“Wasn’t Brian Armstrong just talking about debanking? Very cool!” he quipped.

He added that the notification was “completely useless” as both paths to unlock the account required him to sign in, which he couldn’t do.

“Service agent on the phone also completely useless,” he added.

Coinbase just locked my account after trying to send $25k USDC

Wasn’t @brian_armstrong just talking about debanking???

Very cool! pic.twitter.com/3s7waNxsWn

— eric.eth (@econoar) December 2, 2024

Nuked Account a Lazy Solution

Others pointed out that he wasn’t being ‘debanked’ but protected against account hacks and unauthorized transfers to safeguard the $25,000 USDC. It seems like a “lazy implementation if that’s the case,” he said before adding:

“There are plenty of better ways to handle this than just nuking my account.”

Connor then revealed that the account was locked out because he was using a VPN (virtual private network) when doing the transfer and there were no warnings that this may happen.

There were lots of responses in agreement from those who had also been locked out of centralized exchange accounts with no warnings, some of them for months on end. Blockchain lawyer Joshua Carlson said that overall, the system is working as designed.

“I would recommend setting up a passkeys and I wouldn’t be upset with Coinbase if they suspected somebody trying to hack into my account and they locked it. I’ll consider that a net benefit,” he added.

Coinbase did respond to the post, stating, “We’re sorry to hear that your account was locked after sending your USDC assets. We’re currently looking into this and will reach out to you shortly. In the meantime, please send us a DM so we can provide you with updates directly.”

A few hours after the lockout, Connor reported the incident resolved but added that the replies to his post on X were “mind-blowing.”

“Hopefully Coinbase is working on a much better process for not so easily locking accounts AND recovering accounts. I’m lucky with my reach. Others, not so much…”

Limits Decreased Without Warning

Other responses were from customers complaining that their daily limits had recently decreased for no reason.

Fellow Ethereum developer ‘Zak’ opined that this may be an effort to reduce selling pressure.

“My theory is that they’re nerfing limits for people who have withdrawn over a certain amount within the past year or something to reduce sell-side pressure and keep liquidity on their books,”

Centralized exchanges are slowly morphing into banks exhibiting similar behavior, such as arbitrary account lockouts, lack of customer support, limits on transactions, and demands for an increasing amount of personal information.