If you have a dispute with Coinbase — such as over a fee, a frozen account, or a lost transaction — you cannot sue them in court or join a class action lawsuit. Instead, you must resolve it one-on-one through a private arbitration process.
This analysis describes what Coinbase's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
The arbitration requirement operates as the mandatory dispute resolution mechanism for the agreement, replacing litigation with an alternative procedural framework. This establishes arbitration as the sole remedy pathway for claims arising from the services or terms, with specified exceptions for IP-related equitable relief.
The updated terms establish a new arrangement for USDC designated as 'Secured USDC' in connection with the Coinbase One Card. Under the revised language, if you designate USDC in your wallet as Secured USDC, you agree that Coinbase may transfer that amount to a third party designated as the secured party, and you will be restricted from withdrawing or transferring those funds. Additionally, the secured party's instructions to Coinbase regarding those assets take priority over any conflicting instructions you provide. The agreement states that you consent to all such permitted transfers. This arrangement operates independently of amounts owed to Coinbase, meaning Secured USDC will not be debited to satisfy debts you owe to Coinbase.
View change record →The updated terms eliminate language that previously allowed Coinbase to restrict your withdrawals if you designated USDC as Secured USDC and to comply with third-party secured party instructions without your consent. Under the revised agreement, Coinbase will not transfer, loan, or otherwise handle your Supported Digital Assets except as required by law or as you instruct. This means the One Card Secured USDC mechanism is no longer integrated into the core asset protection clause, and users no longer face withdrawal restrictions or loss of instruction authority tied to that designation. If you currently hold Secured USDC under a separate One Card cardholder agreement, that agreement remains in effect but is no longer cross-referenced in the main User Agreement's asset protection section.
View change record →The updated terms establish a new exception to the prior prohibition on transferring user digital assets. Previously, Coinbase stated it would not transfer assets except as required by law or per user instruction. The revised language now permits Coinbase to transfer USDC designated as 'Secured USDC' to third parties pursuant to a Coinbase One Card cardholder agreement. Users who elect to use this feature agree they will be restricted from withdrawing or transferring the secured portion, and they consent to Coinbase following instructions from a designated secured party without further user approval, even if those instructions conflict with the user's own orders to Coinbase. The full terms of this arrangement are stated to be in Appendix 4, which is not included in this summary.
View change record →Consumers lose access to the court system and cannot band together with other Coinbase users to pursue class action claims, meaning individually small disputes — such as disputed fees or wrongful account freezes — may not be economically viable to arbitrate alone.
How other platforms handle this
You and Teachable agree to resolve any disputes through final and binding arbitration, except as set forth under Exceptions to Agreement to Arbitrate below. You also agree that disputes will only be resolved on an individual basis and not as a class, consolidated, or representative action.
Any dispute arising from or relating to the subject matter of these Terms shall be finally settled by arbitration in San Francisco County, California, in accordance with the Streamlined Arbitration Rules and Procedures of Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services, Inc. ("JAMS") then in effect, by ...
THESE TERMS REQUIRE THE USE OF ARBITRATION (SECTION 12.2) ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS TO RESOLVE DISPUTES, RATHER THAN JURY TRIALS OR CLASS ACTIONS, AND ALSO LIMIT THE REMEDIES AVAILABLE TO YOU IN THE EVENT OF A DISPUTE.
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"You and Coinbase agree that any dispute, claim or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the breach, termination, enforcement, interpretation or validity thereof, or to the use of the Services (collectively, 'Disputes') will be settled by binding arbitration, except that each party retains the right to seek injunctive or other equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction to prevent the actual or threatened infringement, misappropriation or violation of a party's copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, patents, or other intellectual property rights. You acknowledge and agree that you and Coinbase are each waiving the right to a trial by jury or to participate as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class action or representative proceeding.— Excerpt from Coinbase's Coinbase User Agreement
REGULATORY FRAMEWORK: This provision implicates the Federal Arbitration Act (9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.), which generally favors enforcement of arbitration agreements. However, the CFPB's 2017 arbitration rule (vacated by Congress) and ongoing FTC scrutiny under FTC Act Section 5 (15 U.S.C. § 45) signal continued regulatory hostility toward class action waivers in consumer financial services contracts. California courts have periodically found such clauses unconscionable under Cal. Civ. Code § 1670.5 when applied to financial services consumers.
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Coinbase's User Agreement includes a mandatory arbitration clause that most users may not have reviewed. Here is what the clause states and how the opt-out process works.
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The arbitration requirement operates as the mandatory dispute resolution mechanism for the agreement, replacing litigation with an alternative procedural framework. This establishes arbitration as the sole remedy pathway for claims arising from the services or terms, with specified exceptions for IP-related equitable relief.
Consumers lose access to the court system and cannot band together with other Coinbase users to pursue class action claims, meaning individually small disputes — such as disputed fees or wrongful account freezes — may not be economically viable to arbitrate alone.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 11 platforms. See the full comparison.
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