Coinbase Reports a Spike in Law Enforcement Requests In Last 12 Months

According to crypto exchange Coinbase’s most recent transparency report, law enforcement and government organizations from all over the world are increasing the number of requests they send to cryptocurrency exchanges for customer data.

The period covered by the report (October 1, 2021 – September 30, 2022) shows that law enforcement organizations around the world made 66% more inquiries to Coinbase this year.

Coinbase stated that it is investigating and will take legal action against “bad actors” that violate its terms of service or misuse its services.  

Of the total 12,320 requests from government and law enforcement entities, 5,304 were from the United States. The United Kingdom came in second with 1,740 requests, followed by Germany at 1,668. Spain filed 940% more requests than in 2021, and Belgium submitted 400% more.

Coinbase claims it considers all requests for customer data “carefully.”

“We carefully review law enforcement and agency requests before providing data to ensure we are honoring our customers’ rights over their personal information.”

Coinbase does not insist on users’ complete anonymity, despite the fact that many in the bitcoin community consider privacy a fundamental principle of the sector. 

Coinbase has stated that it will disclose user information to law enforcement agencies upon request. This includes the user’s “name, recent login/logout IP address, and payment details.”

While Coinbase does offer user data to agencies under specific conditions, the company claims in its report that it does not grant “direct access” to such data, implying that the data it does provide is repackaged in some way.

Coinbase Revenue Continues to Dip

As the bearish market continues, Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, thinks that his company’s revenue will drop below 50% of what it will be in 2021. To boost stablecoin usage, Tether (USDT) stablecoins can now be converted to USDC stablecoins on the American cryptocurrency exchange for no additional cost.