CRYPTOCURRENCY EXCHANGE Coinbase has hit out at Visa after it overcharged customers for transactions to the tune of as much as 50 times.
The company, which is a popular outlet for the likes of Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Etherium, has admitted that in some cases, it was charging customers for the same transaction over and over again until they were skint.
Users complained that they'd been left without money for food after the borkage.
In a statement, Coinbase said: "This is related to the recent MCC code change by the card networks and card issuers charging additional fees. We have identified a solution and future purchases will not be affected."
It has promised to reimburse all those affected. In addition, in a series of tweets, it offered to give away 15,000 Etheriums (Etheriai?) to affected users. We might be getting the wrong end of the stick there though because, at today's exchange rate, that would be damn near 10 million quid, so we're taking it with a rather large seam of salt.
It also requires you to send .4 ETH to Coinbase first, which sounds more like the request of a Nigerian Prince whose family have been rather careless on aeroplanes.
It rather pointedly said:
MCC stands for "Merchant Category Code" and is a standardised reference for the type of goods or services being traded by a given company.
With cryptocurrency, there was a need to change to a new MCC to avoid it being confused with physical currency trading, but this has happened rather slowly and in dribs and drabs.
Uses of the MCC are varied and be used for everything from cash back offers to income tax referrals.
Source :https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3026852/coinbase-blames-visa-as-crypto-sales-are-charged-up-to-50-times
