Coinbase Mispricing Allows Users in Georgia to Cash Out for 100 Times Rate

Coinbase (COIN) users in the Eastern European country of Georgia were able to exploit a price bug that allowed them to cash out their holdings for 100 times the exchange rate, pocketing thousands of dollars in profit.

• Georgia's national currency, the lari (GEL), was priced at $290 rather than $2.90 on Wednesday. In an email to CoinDesk, Coinbase attributed the missed decimal point to "a third-party technical issue."
• The error allowed users holding $100 worth of lari on Coinbase to withdraw it to their bank account for $10,000.
• Some users who were able to take advantage reported that their bank accounts and debit cards were frozen by their banks after transferring their funds to them.
• Coinbase said the issue was exploited by 0.001% of its total users, or about 1,000 customers.
• While the size of the Coinbase's loss hasn't been disclosed, a spokesperson described it as "a small non-material amount."
• "We fixed the issue and and are taking action to retrieve the improperly withdrawn funds,” the spokesperson said.
• The mispricing was reported earlier by Blockworks.

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