Coinbase mistakenly notified users about changes in 2FA settings

Bitcoin exchange Coinbase mistakenly sent emails to users with information about changes in their two-factor authentication (2FA) settings. About 125,000 customers received such notifications, the company specified.

The incident happened on Friday, August 27. Some users thought their account had been hacked, so they withdrew funds or changed their security settings.

On August 29, Coinbase representatives reported the error. The support team clarified on the subreddit that those affected by the incident "will receive $100 worth of bitcoin."

In the comments, some group members complained that they had not received the promised funds and threatened to switch to competing platforms. Others thanked Coinbase for being able to quickly block an account when threatened with a change in 2FA settings.

There were customers who reported problems accessing the site's app. According to one of them, users who did not receive the erroneous notification did not experience such problems.

CNBC previously surveyed Coinbase users and found "thousands of complaints" about hacking, missing funds and other problems. The piece claims that those affected have difficulty contacting customer service, which only communicates by email.

In March 2018, two class action lawsuits were filed against the company at once - for insider trading in the listing of Bitcoin Cash and violation of California's unclaimed property law.

That summer, Mashable published a 134-page list of claims against the trading platform to the California Department of Business Oversight and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

From June 2020 to June 2021, the number of user complaints about bitcoin exchanges in the U.S. increased. The antiliterate was Coinbase, where the figure rose from 241 to 1,060.

Later, the trading platform stated that it increased the number of support staff by five times after numerous customer complaints.