Bitcoin is having yet another popularity spike across the globe, with every Tim, Diedre and Hanno getting in on the action.

If you’re not yet one of them, but are still giddy with excitement after realising it’s a decentralised digital currency that doesn’t track your spending, you can check out how it works in South Africa here.

It’ll take you two minutes.

But as a flurry of newbies have been lured into investing in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies by the dramatic rise in price, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it has “received at least 293 complaints about Coinbase Inc., according to data reviewed by Bloomberg,” reports Fortune.

Coinbase is the most popular online exchange for trading digital currencies, and the number of complaints makes it the “biggest recipient of CFPB virtual currency complaints this year”.

#Winning.

But why so many complaints? Well:

The website has struggled to keep up with spiking volume and longer transaction processing times as the value of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies soared to record highs.

More than a third of the grievances came from individuals who said they were unable to access their money when promised. Many people also complained about other transaction or service problems. Accusations of fraud represented less than 15 percent of the complaints.

“The funds were supposed to be transferred to my checking account within three-to-five business days,” one customer complained to the CFPB in May. “I need the money.”

Making matters worse, Megan Hernbroth, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco-based company, declined to comment on the CFPB complaints .

Tsk tsk, lady, this is a PR disaster.

Here’s what we know about the exchange company and its little problem:

Coinbase, which was founded in 2012, said in June that it’s working to improve customer support. The exchange has grappled with a slew of performance issues, including outages, slow load times and a flash crash in ether, the second most valuable virtual coin.

“Over the past few months, we’ve seen an unprecedented increase in the number of customers signing up to use Coinbase,” wrote the company’s co-founder and CEO, Brian Armstrong, in a June 6 blog post. “As a result, our systems have been pushed to the limit. This has caused many customers to have a negative experience.”

On its support page, Coinbase says transaction timing can vary depending on a customer’s location and payment method, and U.S. bank transfers can take up to five business days.

Of course, while the anonymity of bitcoin’s origins has allowed multiple cryptocurrency startups to do their thing, they are now “overwhelmed with unusually high volume as the price of bitcoin has skyrocketed almost fivefold this year”:

This month, the debate over how to speed up transactions became so contentious that bitcoin split in two.

If you’re next business venture is cryptocurrency-related, just prepare yourself for what you’re about to get into.

[source:fortune]