How Coinbase Almost Cost a Crypto Investor His Wedding

A Coinbase user recently shared his frustration after the exchange’s restrictions nearly derailed his wedding plans.
Griffin McShane, a writer at CoinDesk, revealed on X that his account was frozen for two months, blocking his ability to withdraw a deposit needed for his wedding venue. This issue threatened to ruin his first-choice venue, leaving him scrambling for a solution.
McShane expressed his confusion and frustration, asking Coinbase on X, “How is blocking access to my account for two months supposed to protect me when I can’t get any support?” His post quickly gained attention, and Coinbase eventually resolved the issue, but McShane credited his success to his industry connections in the web3 community. “I’m lucky to have a network that helped me, but I can’t imagine how others without that support feel,” he said, reflecting on how difficult the situation was for those without the same resources.
Before the issue was fixed, McShane had to resort to publicly tagging Coinbase and CEO Brian Armstrong on X in the hopes that someone would take notice. He called the process “absolutely insane,” highlighting how his only option was to rely on social media visibility.
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McShane’s post caught the attention of other Coinbase users who had faced similar problems. Mike Dudas, co-founder of The Block, shared his own experience, stating that his account was also restricted and required a public tweet to be resolved. He further noted that the same problems resurfaced days later. Crypto analyst ZachXBT criticized Coinbase for not being transparent about its fraud issues, accusing the exchange of falsely blocking legitimate accounts as a “solution.”
Others joined the criticism, calling the exchange’s operational issues “structural” and questioning how a major company like Coinbase could have such ineffective compliance and anti-fraud policies. Coinbase had previously faced backlash for its VPN restrictions, which many deemed “lazy” in their approach to handling security.