Coinbase Warns Customers About Bitcoin Investing Risks

Customers may face service disruptions and trading limitations when using Coinbase, the company's CEO warned on Thursday.

The CEO of Coinbase, a popular bitcoin exchange, is telling customers to "invest responsibly" amid the cryptocurrency's exploding value. "Digital currencies are volatile and the prices can go up and down," Brian Armstrong wrote in a Thursday blog post.

The exchange is facing a surge of customer growth as bitcoin's value exploded from $11,000 to $17,000 over the past week. Coinbase is now the second most popular iPhone app in the US, according to analytics firm App Annie, but it's also been battling service outages due to the record high traffic.

Coinbase Bitcoin Value

To keep up with customer demand, Armstrong said the company has increased the size of its support team by 640 percent over this past year, and can now process 40 times more transactions during peak hours. However, disruptions to Coinbase may persist, especially when bitcoin's value wildly fluctuates, he warned.

"This could result in the inability to buy or sell for periods of time," he wrote. "Despite ongoing increases in our support capacity, our customer support response times may be delayed."

Armstrong is also telling customers to be aware that cashing out from the exchange takes time. For instance, Coinbase imposes buy and selling limits, which can restrict your payout to $10,000 a week.

"Expect payments to take the maximum number of days indicated when making a deposit or withdrawal," Armstrong added.

His statements probably aren't encouraging for customers. Some on Reddit and Twitter have reported trouble using the site to make purchases or sell their bitcoins.

Meanwhile, experts continue to discuss in the media whether the bitcoin craze is a bubble, or if its value will continue to rise. Time will tell.

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