Consumers have filed 7,667 complaints with the CFPB against Coinbase.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong cheered the Trump administration’s attacks on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) over the weekend but neglected to mention the thousands of complaints his customers have filed with the agency.
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Russell Vought, the CFPB’s acting director, shuttered the Bureau’s office this week, instructing employees in an email to “stand down from performing any work task.”
The move effectively handcuffs a federal watchdog that has increasingly become a thorn in the side of crypto entrepreneurs accused of malfeasance.
“The CFPB is unconstitutional on the face of it. And even if it wasn’t, it should be deleted as we already have DOJ to prosecute fraud, and (many) other financial services regulators,” Armstrong wrote on X after Elon Musk declared the agency dead. “It’s an activist organization that has done enormous harm to the country.”
Commenters quickly pointed out that Coinbase, the publicly traded crypto exchange, is often the target of CFPB investigations.
“You want CFPB gone because it has repeatedly forced your company, Coinbase, to respond to consumer complaints about arbitrarily frozen accounts,” wrote one left-wing commenter. “It’s constitutional. It has returned billions to consumers from scammers. Why are you so afraid of oversight?”
“Sounds like crypto bros don’t want to be held to account when they rip people off,” another reply read. “More reason why the CFPB should stick around.”
CFPB data shows consumers have filed 7,667 complaints against Coinbase over the last decade, 16% of which resulted in compensation for the complainant. The most common categories given were “fraud or scam” and “money was not available when promised.”
“I am writing to formally lodge a complaint regarding Coinbase’s handling of my cryptocurrency account, which has been unjustifiably restricted,” a Jupiter, Florida resident wrote in one recent complaint where Coinbase was ordered to provide monetary relief.
“Despite my efforts to resolve the matter, Coinbase has failed to provide adequate explanations, updates, or resolutions, leaving my funds inaccessible and causing significant financial and emotional distress.”
Dozens of posts in the r/CoinBase Reddit channel in the past year reported similar complaints.
Armstrong’s accusation that the CFPB is “unconstitutional” echoes a conservative argument made before the Supreme Court last year, which took issue with the agency receiving funding from the Federal Reserve rather than through the congressional budgeting process.
A 7-2 majority opinion penned by Justice Clarence Thomas held that the Bureau was constitutional.
Armstrong wasn’t the only crypto bro cheering on its demise. Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss shared a post of a screenshot of the CFPB website with a “404” error.
Gemini has hundreds of complaints filed at the CFPB as well.
But even if the CFPB is permanently dissolved, Coinbase still faces a raft of regulatory and legal challenges.
The Securities and Exchange Commission—now with a more pro-crypto bent under President Donald Trump—charged Coinbase with operating as an unregistered exchange in 2023 in an action that is still pending.
And last Friday, a federal judge ruled that Coinbase must face a customer class-action lawsuit accusing the exchange of illicitly selling securities.
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