Coinbase website goes down and BTC too - isn't it danger that one player can change the price
The price of bitcoin BTCUSD, +10.74% plunged more than $1,700 in 15 minutes Wednesday (25th of June, 2019) afternoon after the website of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase apparently crashed.
After topping a 17-month high above $13,700 earlier Tuesday, bitcoin sank below the $12,000 level, and was trading around $12,700 as of 11:30 p.m. Eastern.
Now (Friday 27th) - we have $11.8K as of 5:21 a.m. Eastern.
A notice on Coinbase's website read
"An error has occurred. We've been notified about the issue and are taking a look."
The website appeared to be working again by 5:15 p.m. Eastern. According to the site's status page, the issue was "resolved" around 5:40 p.m. Eastern and all functions appeared operational.
The digital currency is up 60% this month, and more than 230% year to date. Great - but don't you think that if 15 minutes break down on the one website can cause such a price change - it is a bit dangerous? Well, on the other hand try to imagine how GBP will react if HSBC will be down for 15 minutes - probably will be more stable, but the market will fell the change. The same - announcement of Brexit, and GBP reaction, political changes on local currencies in Eastern Europe or Latin America, not mention about unstable currencies in RSA. Seems that it is not such a big deal :D