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Update 9:23 p.m. Coinbase claims to be back and that everything is totally fine.
JUST IN: Coinbase said it was back up and running after having to throttle traffic earlier in the evening following the release of an ad during the Super Bowl https://t.co/e4zii9AsOS
— Bloomberg (@business) February 14, 2022
We heard cryptocurrency was going to be a big part of the advertising around Super Bowl 56, and the leader in the online wallet space Coinbase decided to give away $15 to everyone that scanned their barcode off a screen during a commercial during the first quarter.
Coinbase Super Bowl LVI commercial
Coinbase spent $14 million on the QR code commercial.pic.twitter.com/7ANk3nmC47
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) February 14, 2022
One small problem: All the people going to Coinbase crashed their website. Proof!
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A wonderful job by big tech to not be prepared with their own website after spending $14 million on the lowest of low tech commercials ever.
As a Coinbase user, we might just clear out the cash in the AM. If they can’t handle this, can we really trust them during a DDOS attack? (I mean probably, but we’re more offended by the lack of preparation here).
By the way: Coinbase was offering just $15 to sign up and join their site. But if you give them $100 and click on this link and join Rakuten, you’ll actually get $40 and an additional $5 which is an even better deal. So they didn’t even put their best deal out there for everyone.
Not a great way to open the Crypto Bowl competition for the biggest player in the space.