Coinbase trading goes dark for hours as AWS multi-zone failure hits COIN at its worst moment!

Coinbase suffered a multi-hour trading outage on May 7, 2026, after failures struck multiple AWS availability zones in Virginia's U.S. Eastern Region — a scenario the exchange's infrastructure was not designed to handle. The platform briefly shifted to "cancel only" mode before full service was restored, with Coinbase saying it will await AWS's official retrospective before closing its own investigation.

The timing is brutal. Just days earlier, Coinbase posted a Q1 2026 loss of $1.49 per share against analyst expectations of a $0.27 profit, with revenue of $1.41 billion falling short of the $1.52 billion consensus. Shares fell more than 5% in after-hours trading on the earnings miss. The company also announced a 14% workforce reduction — roughly 660 employees — on May 5, citing deteriorating market conditions and AI headwinds.

Criticism came quickly. Software engineer Gergely Orosz,…