A significant outage in Amazon Web Services, a dominant global cloud provider, disrupted major financial platforms and numerous other online services, underscoring the digital economy’s critical dependence on centralized infrastructure.
The widespread interruption, which began early Monday, left major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and brokerage app Robinhood inaccessible for several hours, preventing users from conducting essential transactions.
Coinbase Support acknowledged the issue on social media, assuring users that funds remained secure while their team worked to resolve the problem.
We’re aware many users are currently unable to access Coinbase due to an AWS outage.
Our team is working on the issue and we’ll provide updates here. All funds are safe.— Coinbase Support (@CoinbaseSupport) November 6, 2023
The AWS disruption, reportedly caused by a problem in one of its main database products, affected a vast array of online services beyond finance. Popular platforms like cloud-based games Roblox and Fortnite, social app Snapchat, Amazon.com’s e-commerce site, Prime Video streaming, and the Signal messaging service all experienced issues.
Downdetector, a website monitoring outages, recorded approximately 50,000 user reports collectively around 7:50 a.m.
Crypto trader Kushy noted the broad impact on social media, listing Amazon, Robinhood, Reddit, McDonald’s, and Fortnite among the affected. No other cryptocurrency exchanges reported similar interruptions.
Coinbase later reported early signs of recovery, with some users regaining access, and subsequently stated that most services were usable, though some older asset transfer requests were still under investigation. Robinhood users also faced delays in trade execution and problems with its application programming interface (API).
Amazon Web Services had not provided a detailed timeline for a full resolution but indicated ongoing efforts to restore all affected services. The incident highlights the critical reliance of global digital operations on large cloud infrastructure providers and the inherent risks of centralizing such vital services.