Largest U.S. Bitcoin Seller Says Come Back Later
Coinbase Runs Out of Bitcoins
The largest seller of Bitcoins in the U.S. has been out of Bitcoins for nearly two days. Yesterday afternoon Business Insider first reported the story that Coinbase was temporarily out of Bitcoins. Just minutes ago a staff reporter at Planet Bitcoin attempted to make a purchase of just over one Bitcoin and was unable to do so. The message stated, “Sorry, the maximum number of purchases on Coinbase has been reached. This is a 24 hour rolling limit with no specific start time. Please try again later.” (image of the message is to the right)
With no Bitcoins to available to sell, why is Coinbase still quoting bid and ask prices? Obviously, those prices are meaningless. An old joke illustrates the point:
A lady walks into a grocery store and goes to the meat counter. She wants to buy a pound of hamburger but notices the price is not what is being advertised down the street at a competitor, so she rings the customer service bell to speak to the manager of the meat department. She tells him, “Sir, I want to buy a pound of hamburger, but your price is $3.59. Your competitor down the street is offering it for sale for $2.99.” The manager of the meat department responds, “Well, then, you should go down the street and buy it from them. I cannot afford to sell it for that.” The lady quickly fires back, “But they are all out.” The meat manager quickly replied, “Lady, when I’m all out of hamburger, my price is $1.99 per pound!”
It’s a funny joke, but it does illustrate a valid point: if nothing of an item is actually available for sale, then the price asked is completely meaningless.
Coinbase is quoting a price, but the company doesn’t have any for sale at the price being quoted.
If you want to buy Bitcoins, don’t expect to be able to do so at the price quoted on Coinbase.