Within the moat built by regulatory advantages, Coinbase is the "hallmark" of compliance. However, stripped of its compliance halo, its "noble indifference" is becoming increasingly dangerous.
Community feedback is ignored, customer service is slow to respond, fees are high... These issues are causing more and more users to feel disappointed and dissatisfied. A question is becoming increasingly sharp: If there are no compliance dividends, what is left of Coinbase?
Where Have Individual Users Gone?
According to CryptoQuant data, Coinbase's individual investor dominance index is only 18.3%, far lower than Binance's 89.6% and Bitget's 50.1%. This index reflects the activity and influence of individual investors relative to institutional investors on trading platforms, with a higher value indicating a larger proportion of individual investors in the user group.
Behind this data lies Coinbase's long-term strategic focus on compliance and institutionalization, also indicating that it is gradually distancing itself from ordinary users, with the platform's attractiveness and stickiness to the mass market declining. This has also been widely reflected in the community, with negative comments about Coinbase increasing in both Chinese and English communities, and user voices growing louder.
Coinbase's "Account Entry Mysticism"
Some users report that when two transactions are processed in the same block, the Coinbase system may only credit one, with the other requiring days of back-and-forth with customer service to recover. User @0x 4848 stated: "I say it's a bug, they say it's a feature, to protect fund safety."
Such "safety-named" issues, without an efficient and transparent handling mechanism, will erode user patience and trust.
Customer Service: Slowness as a Norm
Coinbase's customer service system has long been a "concentration camp of pain points". Many users report that Coinbase's intelligent assistant is virtually useless and cannot truly solve problems.
Once human customer service is chosen, the waiting nightmare truly begins. Human customer service has extremely low permissions and can often only "record the issue and escalate". According to user feedback, receiving an initial response takes at least 48 hours, and fully resolving an issue could take a week or even longer.
Additionally, some users describe their customer service communication mechanism as chaotic and inefficient. "They keep asking me for the same information via email, I provide it, and then they say it's not enough," user @MattLGov stated, "Dealing with Coinbase customer service is absolutely terrifying."
Scams Hunting from Outside, Internal Staff Overstepping
Coinbase users are frequently targeted by scams. On-chain detective ZachXBT revealed that related cases last month alone caused fund losses of up to $46 million.
Meanwhile, internal data security issues have also emerged at Coinbase. The Block co-founder Mike Dudas claimed on X platform that he received an official email showing an employee might have inappropriately accessed some user account data, including his own. The email read: "We detected signs that an employee may have viewed a small number of customer account records in a manner inconsistent with our internal policies."
The Cold Shoulder of "Read but No Reply"
In terms of user communication, Coinbase's presence is almost zero. It does not cater to retail investors, nor has it established effective user communication channels. Whether it's the CEO or the management team, they rarely publicly respond to user issues on social platforms, and even when facing numerous complaints and questions, they seldom step forward to clarify or explain.
Behind this "silence" may be cultural background and regulatory considerations, but the result is that user voices are hardly heard.
"Aristocratic" Fees
User @hyperunit compiled the costs of purchasing one spot Bitcoin at initial fee levels across mainstream trading platforms, showing Coinbase's fees at $329.68, which is relatively high. Additionally, community user @Tmzhao 1 pointed out that to achieve the same fee level as Binance's ordinary users on Coinbase, users need to start from VIP 0, complete about $250 million in trading volume, and pay over $300,000 in cumulative fees.
Although Coinbase Pro (now Advanced Trade) offers lower fee options, its operating interface is relatively complex, and many ordinary users are not familiar with or find it easy to use.
Coinbase's compliance halo is undoubtedly the cornerstone of its stable position in the US market. However, as it continues to increase its dependence on institutions, it seems to be gradually weakening its connection with ordinary users. On this path of pursuing compliance and safety, Coinbase is quietly sacrificing user experience and abandoning refined platform operations and services.
Behind this massive ship, scattered are countless user whispers and expectations, their voices gradually being swallowed by cumbersome processes and cold mechanisms.
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