Second Class Action Against Coinbase Seeks to Recover Unclaimed Cryptocurrency Sent By Users Via Email

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Two plaintiffs have filed a second proposed class action lawsuit against embattled cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, Inc. Filed in California before the ink had the chance to dry on a lawsuit submitted a day prior, the latest complaint centers on emails sent from Coinbase users to members of the proposed class informing them that they had cryptocurrency—Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin or Bitcoin Cash. These emails, the complaint says, contained a time-sensitive link through which proposed class members could create a Coinbase account to redeem their cryptocurrency.

Many consumers, however, had never heard of cryptocurrency until sometime around 2017, the case states. Predictably, many of these emails were disregarded, as were the links to claim proposed class members’ cryptocurrency.

So, what allegedly happened to the money? The lawsuit concisely frames the issue with Coinbase’s alleged conduct:

Imagine writing a cashier’s check to a friend. The bank withdraws funds from your account, but your friend never cashes the check. Does the bank get to keep the funds? The law clearly says no. But this is exactly what has happened with cryptocurrencies sent through Coinbase.com, owned and operated by Coinbase, Inc.”

Instead of notifying proposed class members that they had unclaimed cryptocurrencies—or turning the money over to California per the state’s Unclaimed Property Law—Coinbase instead allegedly kept the funds, as the links within proposed class members’ emails eventually timed out and became unusable.

ClassAction.org’s coverage of the first proposed class action lawsuit against Coinbase can be read over at our blog. The complaint for the new lawsuit detailed on this page is below.