Amazon AWS Cooling Failure Disrupts Coinbase Services for 30 Minutes
AMZN•Amazon’s AWS data center in Northern Virginia suffered a cooling system failure on May 8, causing Coinbase’s trading and wallet services to go offline for approximately 30 minutes. The disruption highlights potential reliability risks in AWS infrastructure that could affect client retention and long-term enterprise revenue.
1. AWS Cooling System Malfunction
On May 8, a cooling unit failure in an AWS data center serving Northern Virginia led to overheating in server racks, forcing an automatic shutdown of affected hardware. The facility’s backup systems failed to maintain optimal temperatures, resulting in service interruptions.
2. Coinbase Service Outage
The cooling incident directly impacted Coinbase’s trading engine and crypto wallet functionality, causing roughly 30 minutes of downtime before AWS engineers restored cooling and rebooted affected instances. Although the outage was brief, it underscores concerns over AWS’s ability to guarantee uninterrupted service for mission-critical clients.
