Coinbase has issued another statement on their website which will upset a lot of people. Effective August 5, 2016, the company will raise its fees for all services offered. Mainly users who want to buy cryptocurrency with a debit or credit card will see higher charges for these transactions.
Coinbase Keeps Making Strange Decisions
Over the past few weeks, the Coinbase team has been making some decisions that upset a lot of people. The addition of Ethereum support was warmly received, and a very smart business decision at that time. However, since the Ethereum Classic scenario unfolded, the company has been leaking funds left and right, and they have zero intention of adding the situation.
To make matters even worse, the company has announced a new fee structure for the majority of countries they operate in today. Users in most countries can purchase cryptocurrency with their credit or debit card, which has always been subject to low fees. Some Reddit users even report only being charged 1% per transaction right now.
That being said, the new fee structure will jack up the cost to 3.99% or more. This sudden quadrupling of fees will not make sense to most of Coinbase users, and it is not difficult to see why that would be the case. Going from 1% to 3.99% is quite a margin, as things do not seem to be getting more expensive for Coinbase when it comes to processing these payments.
This decision could be one of the final nails in the coffin for Coinbase as a commonly used exchange platform. By forcing users to pay higher fees, it is not unthinkable they will start looking for alternative platforms. Thankfully, there are other exchanges where users can buy bitcoin with a credit or debit card.
All of this is spurring new speculation as to whether or not Coinbase is insolvent or not. For now, it looks like the company is doing OK financially. One other reason could be the mounting Bitcoin transaction costs, which force exchanges to raise their fees. Either way, the battle for lower fees to serve consumers can begin!
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