Coinbase trading disrupted after AWS data center overheats

Coinbase experienced degraded performance Thursday evening after temperatures rose at an Amazon Web Services data center in Northern Virginia, affecting the AWS US‑EAST‑1 region and the use1‑az4 Availability Zone. The exchange flagged the issue around 6 p.m. Pacific time and moved to restrict trading while engineers investigated.

Coinbase posted that the problem was related to a broader AWS outage and directed users to the AWS health dashboard for updates. The exchange identified use1‑az4 as the affected Availability Zone and said it would begin re-enabling trading “shortly.” Coinbase added that markets would be placed in “Cancel Only” mode before normal trading resumed.

Traders reported difficulty executing orders and gaps in market data during the disruption. Some users reported no Bitcoin trades on the platform for more than an hour, that the one‑minute candlesticks stopped updating, and that the order book showed prices well above those on other venues. Customers experienced failed orders on both web and mobile interfaces, affecting basic and advanced trading tools.

AWS acknowledged that rising temperatures at a Northern Virginia data center disrupted some services in the US‑EAST‑1 region. The cloud provider reported “early signs of recovery,” saying additional cooling capacity allowed teams to recover some impacted server racks. AWS added that staff were working to recover the remaining racks “in a controlled and safe manner.”

Coinbase reassured users that customer funds and deposits were secure throughout the outage. Its support account reiterated that balances were not at risk as engineers from Coinbase and AWS worked to restore systems and normal operating temperatures.

Coinbase linked the degraded performance directly to the AWS Availability Zone where temperatures spiked. Both companies reported ongoing remediation work to restore full service and normal temperatures, and Coinbase said it would continue to update customers as recovery progressed.