It appears several bitcoin users are starting to move away from the Coinbase exchange all of a sudden. Albeit this is not a mass exodus by any means, it goes to show the tide is changing slowly but surely. Some users see the merit in switching to Gemini, although opening an account there can prove to be difficult as well. There is still a lot of work to be done where centralized exchanges are concerned, by the look of things.
Centralized Exchanges Remain A Problem
Reddit is often filled with threads talking about how horrible a particular bitcoin exchange is. Every user’s experience will be different, depending on how they plan to use the platform in question. Coinbase has always been one of the market leaders in this regard, even though there have been several complaints regarding deposit delays. Switching to a different exchange can be a solution, although the grass is not always greener on the other side.
One of the latest complaints about Coinbase comes from a user who allegedly suffered significant delays when funding his account with a wire transfer. Granted, having to make purchases for bitcoin which are not processed in a timely manner is quite annoying. It is even worse when the money is taken from one’s bank account and it still takes over a week before the bitcoins are received. Unfortunately, that issue can occur with every exchange where bank transfers are concerned, as the archaic system was never designed to be fast.
A lot of people are more than happy with Coinbase, as they have been for several years. The company has a solid reputation, even though it appears things have become slightly worse over time. Especially the Coinbase customer support is getting a lot of bad reviews these days, but then again, the company has tens of thousands of users they need to keep tabs on. Investing a bit more money in additional customer support representatives could be worth it, though.
Things seem to be faring a lot better for Gemini, the bitcoin exchange operated by the Winklevoss twins. Then again, Gemini does not have the number of customers COinbase has, thus comparing apples and oranges will not bear and fruitful results. It seems quite a few users are making the switch from Coinbase to Gemini, though, this a true test of the Winklevoss’ exchange’s capabilities may be looming on the horizon.
It is good to have different options, assuming users can open an account on different platforms to begin with. Unfortunately, centralized exchanges will always remain a bit of a problem, even though they are not a necessity to buy or sell bitcoin by any means.Centralized platforms facilitate the trades, but there is always a price to pay for this added convenience.
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