Newsflash: Coinbase Goes Offline as Bitcoin Price Crashes

The bitcoin price suffered a cataclysmic – and sudden – crash on Wednesday, and one of the world’s most prominent cryptocurrency exchanges failed to handle the load of users scrambling to salvage their portfolios.

Bitcoin Price Crashes More Than $2,000 on Bitstamp

The bitcoin price crashed more than $2,000 on Bitstamp. | Source: TradingView

After ascending as high as $13,880 earlier today on Bitstamp, a parabolic bitcoin price endured a sudden sell-off. A wave of sell pressure rocked the market at approximately 4:30 pm ET, sending BTC careening downwards.

Within 15 minutes, the flagship cryptocurrency had crashed as low as $11,853, representing a 15% plunge from its intraday high.

Coinbase Suffers Dreaded Outage

Traders who rushed to Coinbase to attempt to salvage their profits – or buy the perceived dip – found themselves out of luck, as the premiere US cryptocurrency exchange suffered one of the dreaded outages that so frequently roiled traders during the 2017 bull run – and the early market 2018 collapse.

As of 5:17 pm ET, Coinbase reported that it had implemented a fix for the outage and continued to monitor the results.

The bitcoin price, meanwhile, last traded at $12,180.

Click here for a real-time bitcoin price chart.

Last modified: March 4, 2021 2:37 PM

Josiah Wilmoth

Josiah is the former U.S. Editor at CCN.com, where he focused on financial markets. He lives in rural Virginia. Connect with him on LinkedIn or email him directly at josiah.wilmoth(at)ccn.com.