Coinbase Alert

Has anyone received am important message email from coinbase to notify you that it is against Federal Regulations to use there Bitcoin payment and receiving transactions to use for online gambling? I received one at 4:19am warning me that my account would be suspended if further transactions are being used for casino online gambling. I have bitcoins in Coinbase and have deposited and withdrew my winnings.  I thought Coinbase was particularly for casino use.  Or would this email be a scam.

Please let me know if any of you have received the same email.

Thank you!

It's probably a legit email. It's widely used for gambling but that isn't the specific purpose for the e-wallet or for virtual currency like Bitcoin. As a California based company, their terms say that online gambling transactions, with exception of the conditional use for games of skill, are prohibited:

APPENDIX 1: PROHIBITED USE, PROHIBITED BUSINESSES AND CONDITIONAL USE

Prohibited Use

Gambling: Lotteries; bidding fee auctions; sports forecasting or odds making; fantasy sports leagues with cash prizes; internet gaming; contests; sweepstakes; games of chance

Conditional Use

Express written consent and approval from Coinbase must be obtained prior to using Coinbase Services for the following categories of business and/or use ("Conditional Uses"). Consent may be requested by contacting support@coinbase.com. Coinbase may also require you to agree to additional conditions, make supplemental representations and warranties, complete enhanced on-boarding procedures, and operate subject to restrictions if you use Coinbase Services in connection with any of following businesses, activities, or practices:

Games of Skill: Games which are not defined as gambling under this Agreement or by law, but which require an entry fee and award a prize

Link to Coinbase terms

Thank you Feeling Froggy! So now how do I approach Coinbase, because deposits are going in my account today?

When you say deposits, you mean payments from online casinos into your Coinbase account today? To be honest with you, I'm not sure what you can do other than to try transferring the money to your bank account, but if they are monitoring the account it's possible they will suspend it. It's a tricky situation - wish I had the answer. Please let us know what happens. 

This is the exact reason why most have said that it's preferable to open up a second wallet to send and recieve payments from online casinos.  Use Coinbase to buy and sell your coin.  Yet make sure you have a second wallet such as Blockchain.info or some other place that you trust. To transfer the coin to your online casino of choice. Mainly because apparently Coinbase has pegged which online wallets are popular with online casinos.

Hence how they have figured out your using it for online gambling.  Trust me it's not Coinbase who really cares about your online financial activity anyways.  If they had it there way, Bitcoin would be used as it should be as a coin that can be used for anything without any limits.  Yet because of our lovely US government in place, pretty much they have to abide by certain rules.

Sorry to break it to you since you've been warned once and your getting more transfers today.  You might have your account suspended.  Now granted they'll let you transfer your coins elsewhere, but still you'll have to find another option to buy and sell your coin.

Let's hope they look the other way today as you only did get the warning this morning, but we shall wait and see.

But the above mentioned process is pretty simple, buy your coin with Coinbase, transfer said coins to your blockchain.info wallet, then transfer to casino.  Yes it's an extra step, but then that way your not directly doing anything casino related from Coinbases wallet.  Then the withdrawal process would be the same, transfer coin to Blockchain.info's wallet, then transfer your coin to Coinbase then sell.

Hope this helps.

Thank you so much for your detailed information and recommending Blockchain.info. I have now created my wallet.

Hold up...hold up....hold up....I'm trying to wrap my brain around this, so forgive me and my naivete'.  I thought one of the super neato benefits to cryptocurrency was anonymity. But what is being said is Coinbase (with whom I have an account) is tracking where the deposits and withdrawals are coming from/going to. If that's the case what is the freakin' point to the 99 gagillion digit "wallet address"?  I haven't been in this crypto world but about 8 months and I realize I have tons to learn. Maybe someone way more learned than myself can explain how and why this is being tracked? I do understand the violation of terms. It's a TOS and I've learned to not violate that or be prepared for the consequences. I value my Coinbase account so I try really hard not to break any rules. 

So, in my mind, I get lucky and I'm able to make a deposit to one of the casinos. I win...YEA ME! (theorectical..haha). Not only do I need to be mindful of where the deposit coins come from, I have to have yet another wallet to cash out to? All, of which, cannot be Coinbase. Am I right? 

Say Xapo for depositing to a casino...and Paxful for withdrawing..Would this be a good example?

Thanks in advance!! 

Bitcoin transactions are anonymous but the e-wallets are not. You have to set up an account and in most cases, to go above a small minimum transaction amount, users are required to verify personal info. Yes Hungryanvil you will need a separate e-wallet to deposit and withdraw from an online casino while using Coinbase only to buy and sell your bitcoins as described above.

BitCoin and of itself isn't as anonymous as most people think.  In all reality it's actually way more public than your bank account is.

The Blockchain is a public ledger where anyone can go looking up your wallet, it's balance, what transactions you have going through it, etc, etc.  Hence why most try to generate a new address each time.  To keep certain folks off of there trails.

The reason why they know what wallet your using is based on the transaction itself and what IP it came from.  That's why most are adding a second if not third step to there process.

Now of course I'm not saying they can tell which wallet is your money and which wallet is there, but because of "the public" part they can start taking some guesses.

I always believed bitcoin was setup by world government and something similar will be used as a world currency. I also always believed coinbase were a government front much like QuickWallet was back in the day. Nothing is secret or private any more Facial Rec camera, Your home TV is listening to you, Phone tracks you everywhere you go, all seeing eye. Bitcoin is as anonymous as dialing 911 

Thank you for the great information!! I guess the rule (for me at least) would be to know my goal and set things up so I don't break any TOS's and I benefit as well. More steps to take and more accounts to keep up with that is for sure.

And, Chocolateman, I watched a few TubeYou videos just yesterday that pertain to your reply specifically. Was eye opening, no pun intended (retinal scanning, etc) and very scary. Nothing is private, nothing is kept a secret and if they want you, they will find you. It's the world we live in and it is only going to get worse. The question is why and my answer is Power, Control and Money!! But, if "they" want this big ole planet all to themselves, have a happy...!!!

Sorry...almost launched full on rant...haha. As with everything, take it for what it's worth. Use Bitcoin to suit your needs and follow the rules...be cautious and diligent! 

Thanky Thanky!!

Its really sad to what the World has become. Its a bunch of Greed and Corruption now. 

Coinbase is known not to condone their use for online gambling, I've heard quite a few cases of them closing and prohibiting accounts for using them to fund gambling accounts.  Most that I know send from Coinbase -> Blockchain -> Gambling site and vice versa to avoid the trouble.

Yes more people who gambles and uses Coinbase to cashout out. Are now sending their money thru a bitmixer, and then send it to coinbase to cashout. 

I believe there are other Bitcoin wallet that doesn't require verification of any sort.all you need is your 12 digit code and wallet address