Coinbase admits it accidentally overcharged tons of cryptocurrency buyers [Updated]

Update: Shortly after Coinbase blamed VISA for the overcharging mishap, VISA told TNW that its systems have not been affected, suggesting that the cryptocurrency exchange is to blame for the technical difficulties. Read the full story here. 

Following numerous complaints from concerned users on Reddit, popular cryptocurrency exchange desk Coinbase has confirmed a bug in its system resulted in accidentally charging tons of users multiple times for the same purchase – some complained being charged 17 times the original purchase.

“We can confirm that the unexpected charges are originating from our payment processing network, and are related to charges from previous purchases,” a spokesperson for the company said on Reddit. “To the best of our knowledge, these unexpected charges are not permanent and are in the process of being refunded.”

“We are actively investigating some reports from our customers about unexpected credit or debit card charges appearing on their statements from previous Coinbase purchases,” the spokesperson continued.

“You [meaning Coinbase] drained my bank account and now I have nothing,” one user cried out on Reddit. “Welp officially broke, charged 17×1000$ on my account,” said another user.

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It remains unclear precisely what caused the glitch, but the exchange desk says it is working on a fix. The statement also implies that users will be reimbursed for the accidental multiple charges. For some reason, the company has yet to register the issue on its official status page.

Meanwhile, Coinbase is asking affected users to point to the faulty transactions in the Reddit thread where they confirmed the bug. You can check out the full thread here. We’ve contacted the company for comment and will update this piece accordingly if we hear back.

Update: Coinbase reached back to TNW with the following statement:

We’re currently investigating an issue where some customers were charged incorrectly for purchases of digital currency with credit and debit cards.

This is related to the recent MCC code change by the card networks and card issuers charging additional fees. We have identified a solution and future purchases will not be affected. We will ensure any customer affected by this issue is fully refunded. We expect these refunds to happen for customers automatically through their bank.

If you believe you were affected by this issue, please contact support@coinbase.com. We will be reviewing all card transactions from the last few weeks to ensure all affected customer are notified. We will post on Twitter and our blog with further updates.

Unfortunately, the statement makes no mention of the expect timeline for the refunds. We’ve asked Coinbase for further clarification.

Update: Coinbase has now said that the issue was Visa’s fault in a series of tweets.

2/ Over the last few months, large banks and card issuers requested that card networks change the MCC for purchases of digital currency. Visa changed the MCC for digital currency purchases to a code that allows large banks and card issuers to charge consumers additional fees.

— Coinbase (@coinbase) February 16, 2018

4/ If you have been affected by any erroneous charges associated with purchases of digital currency with credit and debit cards, we are encouraging customers to contact their bank or card issuer and ask about the charges. In addition, please contact Coinbase support.

— Coinbase (@coinbase) February 16, 2018