8 ms·

Kraken Is Down

70 points by frabjoused 6y ago

frabjoused 6y ago
As trades are frozen, there is now a 10+% price difference between the last trade and the current market. It's going to be interesting when it comes back online.
- pjc50 6y ago
  .. wow, I wasn't expecting this to be zooming upwards. I suppose chaos is good news for the price.
Duckton 6y ago
Coinbase is also down, but that’s hardly a surprise
darth_avocado 6y ago
At what point does this border a scam? You can't sell when it matters the most. This isn't the first time. And this isn't the only one down.
- traskjd 6y ago
  I'd guess at the same time we accept the stock market is a scam when it shuts down when trading goes full crazy? Helps prevent runs on them?
  - juniperplant 6y ago
    > Helps prevent runs on them? Sorry for my ignorance, but what do you mean by this? I have zero knowledge about the stock market.
    - rstupek 6y ago
      He's likely talking about trading circuit breakers which trigger when the market is down a substantial percentage in a short time. Trading is suspended for a period
      - mirekrusin 6y ago
        With COVID it happened twice iirc - the stock market has been automatically stopped to prevent panic runs.
    - wyck 6y ago
      Online trading platforms also go down...just like crypto exchanges. The tech stack has to be incredibly resilient and fast, several steps above most software in terms of performance and reliability.
- mandelbrotwurst 6y ago
  There have similar issues with Merrill Lynch recently.
  - thebean11 6y ago
    I've had issues accessing Schwab too on days the market tanks.
- superfrank 6y ago
  Aren't they a crypto exchange and, similar to Coinbase, make their money on fees? If so, being down, especially when prices are soaring, hurts. If people cannot trade on their platform, they're not getting any fees. It sounds like a pretty dumb scam if you as me.
  - ur-whale 6y ago
    You're assuming their not trading themselves. And before you mention it: yes, that'd likely be illegal under US law, but still, it's a scenario.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
  - qeternity 6y ago
    You're missing the forest for the trees. If crypto crashes, and retail goes away permanently, they lose their entire business. These are 100% planned circuit breakers by the exchanges to halt panic selling.
    - gruez 6y ago
      This only works if all the major exchanges go down. Is there any evidence of this conspiracy?
    - varajelle 6y ago
      In the past, Mtgox being offline caused crashes, not prevented them. And that was at the time when it was the major bitcoin exchange.
    - noxer 6y ago
      Thats not how the crypto markets work. There is no breaker needed. They allow people to bet on falling and rising prices. A crash doesn't make people go away it makes winners and looser just like if the price goes up. The more it move in one direction the more people will be interested in betting on counter movement anyway so if it swings more its swings more likely back too. There are certainly "cheating" exchanges out there but cheating by stooping trades every once in a while is absurdly inefficient and makes people leave the exchange even if they dont know about the cheating. Exchanges can cheat way way simpler by front running the order books.
- gruez 6y ago
  How is this a scam? Kraken makes money on trading fees. How is it in their interest to shut down when volume is high?
  - qeternity 6y ago
    See my above comment. They are playing the long game.
massaman 6y ago
What's Kraken?
- choeger 6y ago
  I have no idea. But I heard it would be released this winter.
- thebean11 6y ago
  Cryptocurrency exchange, first result on Google
  - acdha 6y ago
    Don't forget that Google personalizes your search rankings. Not everyone will see the same results you see.
    - thebean11 6y ago
      DuckDuckGo gives me the same thing (I think that avoids personalization right?)
      - acdha 6y ago
        I'm sure they and the rum vendor spend a lot of money on SEO, too, so it'll fluctuate over time. My point was mostly that the snark wasn't helpful and if you wanted to contribute something of value you could have suggested searching for the domain name which is more accurate.
        thebean11 6y ago
        I figured the original comment was snark, since it seems so trivial to answer the question oneself..
        twentydollars 6y ago
abhiminator 6y ago
Posted this last time and posting this again as a PSA: A bit of a side-note, but this needs to be said: articles like these should be a good wake-up call for crypto users that are still using web-based wallets (and their accompanying apps for mobile platforms) especially for storing LARGE amounts of cryptocurrency -- you're essentially trusting a third-party exchange (with many of them using opaque ToS and PP) with your private keys and as a result your funds (especially those platforms that don't use multi-sig architecture). And crypto exchanges' data breaches/hacks is getting more common by the day. [0] Even Bitcoin.org has stopped recommending web-based wallets, like they were doing just a couple of years ago. The best alternative is hardware wallets, but a good middle-ground is using self-managed, 'semi-cold' software wallets like Electrum, Armory, etc. [1][2] [0] https://selfkey.org/list-of-cryptocurrency-exchange-hacks/ https://selfkey.org/list-of-cryptocurrency-exchange-hacks/ [1] https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/wallets/online/ https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/wallets/online/ [2] https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1741339.0 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1741339.0
- sawmurai 6y ago
  Yeah I lost quite some coins on bitgrail :) gone ... with the wind ...
- RealityVoid 6y ago
  This is a common claim in crypto circles, but my experience rings the other way. Sure, some crypto exchanges have fallen, but there have been many many people that stored their funds on their own, improperly, and lost them. I had a friend that kept the keys in plaintext in google drive and lost them. IMO, the average user has weak opsec and is safer to keep crypto on exchanges. Get a good reliable one and use 2FA and you should be fine. I did pretty much all options. Kept the cryptocurrency on paper wallets, multiple exchanges and now on a HW wallet( I use a Trezor) but I don't advise this for all.
  - qertoip 6y ago
    You are 100% incorrect. Not your keys, not your coins. Any meaningful amount of Bitcoin out to be stored on a hardware wallet. If user can't be bothered to learn anything or read anything or accept months-pending Windows update, he should not touch cryptocurrency. So, for the "average user", the answer is not storing on an online exchange, but to never touch cryptocurrency in the first place.
seibelj 6y ago
Poloniex still running strong!
- flyGuyOnTheSly 6y ago
  The local highschool running track was fine when the Boston Marathon was bombed, too.
myth_drannon 6y ago
Quadriga still up?
andy_ppp 6y ago
Hmmm - where are the scaling issues with building a Bitcoin exchange!? Am I mad to think it’s trivially scalable?
- martinko 6y ago
  Yes, you are mad to think that. You literally have 400k users trying to execute trades in parallel (some many per second) on a common order book. Add leverage, a liquidation engine, etc.
  - andy_ppp 6y ago
    I think my conceptual problem here is what is done on the Bitcoin part and what is done at the exchange level. I thought the Bitcoin network handled that part and obviously I’m wrong about that.
- flyingfences 6y ago
  Scaling with satisfactory security is never trivial.

70 points by frabjoused 6y ago

As trades are frozen, there is now a 10+% price difference between the last trade and the current market. It's going to be interesting when it comes back online.

pjc50 6y ago
.. wow, I wasn't expecting this to be zooming upwards. I suppose chaos is good news for the price.

Duckton 6y ago

Coinbase is also down, but that’s hardly a surprise

darth_avocado 6y ago

At what point does this border a scam? You can't sell when it matters the most. This isn't the first time. And this isn't the only one down.

traskjd 6y ago
I'd guess at the same time we accept the stock market is a scam when it shuts down when trading goes full crazy? Helps prevent runs on them?
- juniperplant 6y ago
  > Helps prevent runs on them? Sorry for my ignorance, but what do you mean by this? I have zero knowledge about the stock market.
  - rstupek 6y ago
    He's likely talking about trading circuit breakers which trigger when the market is down a substantial percentage in a short time. Trading is suspended for a period
    - mirekrusin 6y ago
      With COVID it happened twice iirc - the stock market has been automatically stopped to prevent panic runs.
  - wyck 6y ago
    Online trading platforms also go down...just like crypto exchanges. The tech stack has to be incredibly resilient and fast, several steps above most software in terms of performance and reliability.
mandelbrotwurst 6y ago
There have similar issues with Merrill Lynch recently.
- thebean11 6y ago
  I've had issues accessing Schwab too on days the market tanks.
superfrank 6y ago
Aren't they a crypto exchange and, similar to Coinbase, make their money on fees? If so, being down, especially when prices are soaring, hurts. If people cannot trade on their platform, they're not getting any fees. It sounds like a pretty dumb scam if you as me.
- ur-whale 6y ago
  You're assuming their not trading themselves. And before you mention it: yes, that'd likely be illegal under US law, but still, it's a scenario.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- qeternity 6y ago
  You're missing the forest for the trees. If crypto crashes, and retail goes away permanently, they lose their entire business. These are 100% planned circuit breakers by the exchanges to halt panic selling.
  - gruez 6y ago
    This only works if all the major exchanges go down. Is there any evidence of this conspiracy?
  - varajelle 6y ago
    In the past, Mtgox being offline caused crashes, not prevented them. And that was at the time when it was the major bitcoin exchange.
  - noxer 6y ago
    Thats not how the crypto markets work. There is no breaker needed. They allow people to bet on falling and rising prices. A crash doesn't make people go away it makes winners and looser just like if the price goes up. The more it move in one direction the more people will be interested in betting on counter movement anyway so if it swings more its swings more likely back too. There are certainly "cheating" exchanges out there but cheating by stooping trades every once in a while is absurdly inefficient and makes people leave the exchange even if they dont know about the cheating. Exchanges can cheat way way simpler by front running the order books.
gruez 6y ago
How is this a scam? Kraken makes money on trading fees. How is it in their interest to shut down when volume is high?
- qeternity 6y ago
  See my above comment. They are playing the long game.

massaman 6y ago

What's Kraken?

choeger 6y ago
I have no idea. But I heard it would be released this winter.
thebean11 6y ago
Cryptocurrency exchange, first result on Google
- acdha 6y ago
  Don't forget that Google personalizes your search rankings. Not everyone will see the same results you see.
  - thebean11 6y ago
    DuckDuckGo gives me the same thing (I think that avoids personalization right?)
    - acdha 6y ago
      I'm sure they and the rum vendor spend a lot of money on SEO, too, so it'll fluctuate over time. My point was mostly that the snark wasn't helpful and if you wanted to contribute something of value you could have suggested searching for the domain name which is more accurate.
      - thebean11 6y ago
        I figured the original comment was snark, since it seems so trivial to answer the question oneself..
        twentydollars 6y ago

abhiminator 6y ago

Posted this last time and posting this again as a PSA: A bit of a side-note, but this needs to be said: articles like these should be a good wake-up call for crypto users that are still using web-based wallets (and their accompanying apps for mobile platforms) especially for storing LARGE amounts of cryptocurrency -- you're essentially trusting a third-party exchange (with many of them using opaque ToS and PP) with your private keys and as a result your funds (especially those platforms that don't use multi-sig architecture). And crypto exchanges' data breaches/hacks is getting more common by the day. [0] Even Bitcoin.org has stopped recommending web-based wallets, like they were doing just a couple of years ago. The best alternative is hardware wallets, but a good middle-ground is using self-managed, 'semi-cold' software wallets like Electrum, Armory, etc. [1][2] [0] https://selfkey.org/list-of-cryptocurrency-exchange-hacks/ https://selfkey.org/list-of-cryptocurrency-exchange-hacks/ [1] https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/wallets/online/ https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/wallets/online/ [2] https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1741339.0 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1741339.0

sawmurai 6y ago
Yeah I lost quite some coins on bitgrail :) gone ... with the wind ...
RealityVoid 6y ago
This is a common claim in crypto circles, but my experience rings the other way. Sure, some crypto exchanges have fallen, but there have been many many people that stored their funds on their own, improperly, and lost them. I had a friend that kept the keys in plaintext in google drive and lost them. IMO, the average user has weak opsec and is safer to keep crypto on exchanges. Get a good reliable one and use 2FA and you should be fine. I did pretty much all options. Kept the cryptocurrency on paper wallets, multiple exchanges and now on a HW wallet( I use a Trezor) but I don't advise this for all.
- qertoip 6y ago
  You are 100% incorrect. Not your keys, not your coins. Any meaningful amount of Bitcoin out to be stored on a hardware wallet. If user can't be bothered to learn anything or read anything or accept months-pending Windows update, he should not touch cryptocurrency. So, for the "average user", the answer is not storing on an online exchange, but to never touch cryptocurrency in the first place.

seibelj 6y ago

Poloniex still running strong!

flyGuyOnTheSly 6y ago
The local highschool running track was fine when the Boston Marathon was bombed, too.

myth_drannon 6y ago

Quadriga still up?

andy_ppp 6y ago

Hmmm - where are the scaling issues with building a Bitcoin exchange!? Am I mad to think it’s trivially scalable?

martinko 6y ago
Yes, you are mad to think that. You literally have 400k users trying to execute trades in parallel (some many per second) on a common order book. Add leverage, a liquidation engine, etc.
- andy_ppp 6y ago
  I think my conceptual problem here is what is done on the Bitcoin part and what is done at the exchange level. I thought the Bitcoin network handled that part and obviously I’m wrong about that.
flyingfences 6y ago
Scaling with satisfactory security is never trivial.