Coinbase Bitcoin Cash Lawsuit – BCH Token Exchange Hard Fork?

Coinbase is facing a lawsuit for the way it handled the Bitcoin Cash situation. A website called CoinbaseBCH.com was created to address the issue. Find out more today in our review.

What Is CoinbaseBCH.com?

CoinbaseBCH.com is an informational website dedicated to Coinbase customers who feel they were wrongly treated with regards to the Bitcoin Cash situation.

The website was registered on August 2, 2017 – just one day after the official launch of Bitcoin Cash.

Here’s how CoinbaseBCH.com explains its goal:

“Galvanizing the Coinbase community to secure the rights to trade or withdraw the BCH tokens that rightfully belong to them.”

They want to work with Coinbase to help them understand the community’s concerns regarding Bitcoin Cash.

By the end of August, the website had stopped posting updates. The decision to cease operations was prompted by Coinbase’s announcement that it would support Bitcoin Cash starting in January 2018.

Why Is Coinbase Facing Criticism?

Coinbase faced enormous backlash after the launch of Bitcoin Cash on August 1. In the days leading up to the launch of Bitcoin Cash on August 1, Coinbase (and other major exchanges like GDAX) announced they would not be supporting the bitcoin hard fork.

Just days later, the two major exchanges changed their tune. By August 4, Coinbase had announced that they would support Bitcoin Cash – but investors would need to wait until 2018 to receive their tokens.

“We’ve examined all of the relevant issues and have decided to work on adding support for bitcoin cash for Coinbase customers,” said David Farmer, director of communications at Coinbase, in a statement posted online on August 4. GDAX released an almost identical press release.

Coinbase was accused of manipulating the BCH marketplace by holding customers’ funds for five months without being able to withdraw.

As the CoinbaseBCH.com website explains,

“Coinbase needs to understand that the community is ready and willing to pursue legal action if their BCH tokens continue to be withheld by Coinbase Inc, resulting in tangible and significant financial loss.”

How To Take Action

CoinbaseBCH.com is encouraging its users to sign the petition on Charge.org. That petition is titled, “Coinbase Should Obtain Bitcoin Cash from the Hard Fork and Distribute Tokens to Customers.”

At the time of writing (October 6), 640 people had signed the petition out of a targeted 1,000 signatures.

During the first week of operation (August 2 to August 8), the website planned to give Coinbase, Inc. the opportunity to allow users to withdraw or trade BCH equal to the amount of Bitcoin in their Coinbase wallets. By the second week, August 9 to August 15, the website planned to serve as “a rallying point” to bring users interested in legal action together. By the third week, August 16 to August 22, the website aimed to present legal counsel to users and prepare for a class action lawsuit.

As of October, it’s not totally clear where CoinbaseBCH.com is at in terms of the legal process, or if any lawsuits are planned by the website and its creators.

Update: CoinbaseBCH.com Puts All Efforts On Hold

On August 26, the CoinbaseBCH.com Twitter account announced that they were putting all efforts on hold due to the decision by Coinbase to release BCH by January 1, 2018.

In other words, the website’s mission was successful.

It’s unclear if Coinbase is ever going to face legal action over their decision to delay Bitcoin Cash. However, websites like CoinbaseBCH.com may be one reason why Coinbase is even planning to support Bitcoin Cash. Within days, Coinbase had moved its stance from “not supporting” Bitcoin Cash at all, to officially supporting Bitcoin Cash as of January.