Coinbase CEO praised cryptocurrencies while criticizing traditional payment apps due to recent payment issues.

Brian Armstrong voiced his concerns via Twitter after failing to send a payment through two separate apps — PayPal and SquareCash.

He noted that cryptocurrencies are still young, and have challenges to overcome, but that they can provide a better alternative.

Brian Armstrong, the CEO of the largest US cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, recently spoke about his troubles with the US banks. Armstrong used his Twitter account to complain about two popular fiat payment apps which denied him service after he attempted to make a payment to a friend. Trying to send money to pay back a friend. Paypal tells me "recipient is unable to receive money" and SquareCash tells me my bank declined the payment. This is in the U.S. where these services work best. Imagine rest of the world. pic.twitter.com/iBPzPtlAy6 Are you looking for fast-news, hot-tips and market analysis? Sign-up for the Invezz newsletter, today. — Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) February 12, 2020

Armstrong’s frustration does not come from the fact that he was declined service, but from the fact that something like this happened in the US, where such services are among the best. If something like that can happen in the US, Armstrong suspects that the rest of the world, which lesser-developed countries must have it much worse.

He continued down the same thread, stating that bad customer experiences are often caused by regulatory restrictions. Regardless of the fact that companies could probably eliminate such difficulties if it were up to them, they need to follow an established protocol and comply with the regulators’ rules.

He finally reached his point by stressing that cryptocurrencies do not face such difficulties. He admits that they are still very young, and they are currently facing their own issues. However, the fact that they are young and that their systems can be improved means that they will likely be a much better alternative in the future. Crypto has it's own (numerous) UX challenges of course. But by building on new underlying infrastructure there is an opportunity to make things better, and finally have payments that "just work".— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) February 12, 2020

Ironically, Coinbase caused similar issues to its own clients

Moneygram, a remittance service backed by the crypto startup Ripple, offered Armstrong a promo code in order to promote their services to Coinbase CEO’s Twitter followers, although it is unclear whether he accepted the offer. Hi Brian, we would love to send you a promo code to try our services. Please send us a private message, and we'll send it your way!https://t.co/GphSI45JYa— MoneyGram (@MoneyGram) February 12, 2020

He only mentioned that there is a lot of room for innovators to come up with better alternatives to traditional systems, even though there are many challenges along that path.

Of course, there were some who found Armstrong’s statements a bit ironic, particularly since Coinbase itself is rather strict when it comes to regulatory compliance. The exchange always wanted a good relationship with authorities, but regulatory compliance caused a lot of negative experiences with the exchange’s services, as well. Coinbase isn't any different. Anytime trying to withdraw funds, it's denied, or delayed.



You guys aren't any better than Paypal or the Banks.— Mr. Whale ? (@CryptoWhale) February 12, 2020

The exchange’s customer service was also often criticized for responding poorly to customers, not to mention that the exchange did not let users access their BCH coins for months.