Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced on X that the platform has successfully reduced the issue of unnecessary account freezes and restrictions by 82%. This comes as a response to complaints from users who have experienced prolonged periods of account freezes, with some even being locked out of their accounts for months or years.
Armstrong acknowledged that unnecessary account freezing has been a major issue for Coinbase users for too long, but reassured that the platform is making significant progress in addressing the issue. He highlighted that the exchange will continue to make improvements and announce them as they are rolled out.
Dor Levi, founder of smIXL and now part of the team working to fix Coinbase’s account restriction issues, outlined the steps taken by the exchange to reduce freezes. Levi emphasized that the goal is to ensure that account freezes are rare and limited to circumstances that necessitate them, such as legal obligations or to protect customers from scams.
To achieve this goal, Coinbase has made significant investments in machine learning models, infrastructure, and teams. These investments have improved the precision and recall of Coinbase’s models, resulting in fewer restrictions and freezes. The exchange has also moved processes like source-of-funds verification and enhanced KYC validation into the Coinbase app to speed up the process of removing restrictions.
Despite these efforts, the problem of frozen accounts persists. Some users have reported their accounts being frozen for various reasons, including using a VPN to access their accounts. Coinbase’s risk models automatically flag access through VPNs, leading to some users being locked out of their accounts.
Overall, Coinbase is committed to addressing the issue of unnecessary account freezes and restrictions. With ongoing improvements and investments in technology, the platform aims to ensure that account freezes are limited to necessary circumstances while providing a seamless user experience for its customers.