The exchange fears its own workers may have exploited its move into Bitcoin Cash, a spin-off of the original Bitcoin, causing a great increase of the cryptocurrency’s price, according to BBC. Brian Armstrong, the company’s chief executive, said for BBC that he had repeatedly warned his staff not to disclose its launch plans to family or friends or to trade in the digital asset themselves.
On December 19, Coinbase began letting its users buy, sell, send and receive Bitcoin Cash, however at the moment it has temporarily suspended trade. When Coinbase launched Bitcoin Cash at 17:20 PST (01:20 BST) it was valued at about USD 3,500 per coin. At the time it suspended it, the company was quoting a price of about USD 8,500.
Bitcoin Cash came into being in August 2017 after several developers became frustrated at lengthening transaction times for the original cryptocurrency.
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