Live data from Hacker News

Sent $35,104.11 USD to CoinBase. Never received Bitcoins

news.ycombinator.com

71–80 of 515 posts

Re: Sent $35,104.11 USD to CoinBase. Never received Bitcoins

#71
post #67

To all of you who say that Bitcoin shouldn't be regulated - this is what it results in. If it was any regulated financial deal - say, purchase of stock or Yen - then there are clear rules on how to handle that, namely, you'd be entitled to at least compensation for any decrease between the 'locked' price at the agreed settlement date and the real settlement, whenever it may happen, and the interest for the period. Re…

No way. Regulation won't solve these sort of things. It will just make the barrier to entry that much higher. Now people have a voice more so than ever before. If companies don't act appropriately, people can post stories and complaints online. The companies reputation will then suffer. This is exactly what's happening here.

We've had some recent bitcoin companies simply shutting down/running away while taking the customers' stored funds. Sure, they lost reputation - was that any help to the depositors?

And from history of 'classic' banking we know very well that the 'lost reputation' doesn't work - we've tried that all over the world in the earlier times, it resulted in people creating new 'fresh clean reputation' companies one after another and sucessfully repeating such things over and over.

Raising the barrier of entry is the whole point - if you're unable to meet your agreements, you should be kept far, far away from that business permanently.

Re: Sent $35,104.11 USD to CoinBase. Never received Bitcoins

#72
post #25

From their terms of service: > Coinbase does not guarantee the value of bitcoin. You acknowledge that the price or value of bitcoin can change rapidly, decrease, and potentially even fall to zero. You acknowledge that holding bitcoin is high risk. You agree to deliver the agreed upon payment for bitcoin upon confirmation of an order, regardless of changes in bitcoin value. > Coinbase will make reasonable efforts to e…

His complaint meets neither of those terms of service.

Coinbase confirmed the banking side of things, and then failed to deliver the coins. As a result, the investor is taking a material loss solely due to Bitcoin's failure to deliver. You can't TOS a failure to deliver out of the equation.

At the least, he should be entitled either to cash or Bitcoin credit for the difference in value between the delivery date and the actual delivery date.

Re: Sent $35,104.11 USD to CoinBase. Never received Bitcoins

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this case, the counterparty to the transaction appears unable to meet its obligations, at least according to the OP. That's counterparty risk.

But the ACH is completely reversible. So not really a risk specially considering that price has fallen :).

There are rules that govern ACH reversals. My understanding is that reversals are permitted in cases where the amount transferred was incorrect or the transfer was not authorized.

As another poster on this thread noted, Coinbase's terms of service appears to give them great flexibility in processing transactions. The OP, on the other hand, seems to have the understanding that Coinbase was obligated to complete his transaction within a very specific period of time.

This is a dispute between two parties to a transaction. One is arguing that his counterparty failed to meet its obligations; it appears the other has the ability to argue that under its terms of service those supposed obligations never existed. Given the amount of money involved, either party might be motivated to resolve this matter through legal action.

Again, this is all an inherent part of the wonderful world of counterparty risk.

Re: Sent $35,104.11 USD to CoinBase. Never received Bitcoins

#74

To all of you who say that Bitcoin shouldn't be regulated - this is what it results in. If it was any regulated financial deal - say, purchase of stock or Yen - then there are clear rules on how to handle that, namely, you'd be entitled to at least compensation for any decrease between the 'locked' price at the agreed settlement date and the real settlement, whenever it may happen, and the interest for the period. Re…

> To all of you who say that Bitcoin shouldn't be regulated - this is what it results in.

My interpretation is precisely the opposite of yours. Every other method to exchange bitcoins and USD has been shut down (or at least had its US presence shut down). Coinbase nearly has a monopoly in the United States (I say nearly, because there are certainly still ways to get on other exchanges based in other countries, they're just much more difficult). Coinbase, from what I can tell, must have some political advantage that allows them to stay in service.

Re: Sent $35,104.11 USD to CoinBase. Never received Bitcoins

#76

Brian from Coinbase here. Sorry for the delay on that - definitely not the customer experience we are striving for. We should have things squared away for you by end of day. Edit: your bitcoin credit has now been processed. It looks like as we were performing server upgrades last week a handful of jobs didn't run as normal. We should have certainly caught it and responded sooner so that was our fault. My deepest apol…

I've had a terrible customer service experience with Coinbase too: http://amit.roon.io/an-open-letter-to-coinbase

Re: Sent $35,104.11 USD to CoinBase. Never received Bitcoins

#77
post #67

To all of you who say that Bitcoin shouldn't be regulated - this is what it results in. If it was any regulated financial deal - say, purchase of stock or Yen - then there are clear rules on how to handle that, namely, you'd be entitled to at least compensation for any decrease between the 'locked' price at the agreed settlement date and the real settlement, whenever it may happen, and the interest for the period. Re…

No way. Regulation won't solve these sort of things. It will just make the barrier to entry that much higher. Now people have a voice more so than ever before. If companies don't act appropriately, people can post stories and complaints online. The companies reputation will then suffer. This is exactly what's happening here.

If companies don't act appropriately, people can post stories and complaints online. The companies reputation will then suffer. This is what's exactly happening here.

That's great for all the people who watch and learn that Company A will steal your money, but not so great for the people who provided that evidence for everyone else.

Re: Sent $35,104.11 USD to CoinBase. Never received Bitcoins

#78
I've had poor experiences with Coinbase as well, hit major bugs, which cost me hundreds. The only reason people use them is that they are the only choice at the moment. Can't wait for more alternatives such as Circle to launch! In cases like this , regulation and compliance don't sound like something negative!

Re: Sent $35,104.11 USD to CoinBase. Never received Bitcoins

#79
post #7
post #3

ACH transactions are reversible FWIW.

Yes, I am aware of that. I told them in my last email that I will be reversing my ACH if they continue to ignore me.

You are aware that the BTC value just dropped dramatically right? Why dont you reverse if thats possible?

Re: Sent $35,104.11 USD to CoinBase. Never received Bitcoins

#80
post #74

To all of you who say that Bitcoin shouldn't be regulated - this is what it results in. If it was any regulated financial deal - say, purchase of stock or Yen - then there are clear rules on how to handle that, namely, you'd be entitled to at least compensation for any decrease between the 'locked' price at the agreed settlement date and the real settlement, whenever it may happen, and the interest for the period. Re…

> To all of you who say that Bitcoin shouldn't be regulated - this is what it results in. My interpretation is precisely the opposite of yours. Every other method to exchange bitcoins and USD has been shut down (or at least had its US presence shut down). Coinbase nearly has a monopoly in the United States (I say nearly, because there are certainly still ways to get on other exchanges based in other countries, they'r…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN