A negative balance occurs when a purchase of crypto or a deposit of cash into your Coinbase account is not successfully paid by your bank or card issuer.
For example:
Your bank reverses or declines a transfer and the cash value is returned to your bank or card issuer.
Coinbase will begin the recovery process within 1-5 days from the time the transaction was reversed.
Coinbase attempts to reclaim the cash from your account.
Unsuccessful cash reclamation occurs when value of crypto drops or funds are transferred off-site.
If your balance is negative, Coinbase places a hold on your account. You won’t be able to buy, sell, or trade until you pay the owed balance.
Resolve your negative balance
You can resolve your negative balance with:
Your Coinbase cash balance
You can send crypto from an external wallet to your Coinbase account. Find your Coinbase addresses.
A linked bank account
If you don't have a linked bank account, you can link a new one.
Debit cards can't be used to resolve a negative balance.