​Coinbase: the number of requests for customer information from the authorities increased by 66% over the year

What’s new? US crypto exchange Coinbase has released a report saying it received 12 320 requests for information from law enforcement agencies and regulators around the world from October 1, 2021, to September 30, 2022. That is a 66% increase over the previous year. Coinbase attributed the increase to the development of the company itself, as well as the increased interest of authorities in the crypto industry. The company noted that it does not respond positively in all cases, and also tends to provide anonymized and aggregated data rather than specific information about individual customers. The platform currently has more than 108 million customers worldwide, the report says.

Coinbase’s report

What else does the document say? The company said that it regularly receives requests from law enforcement and government agencies requesting financial reports or customer information in criminal, civil, or administrative cases. The requests include subpoenas, court orders, search warrants, and other official legal documents. Coinbase representatives explained that in such cases, they are obliged to respond to them.

The company added that it strives to protect customer privacy, while also assisting law enforcement in catching criminals using the platform. “In every instance, we carefully review law enforcement and agency requests before providing data to ensure we are honoring our customers’ rights over their personal information,” the blog says.

Depending on the nature and scope of the request, the exchange may provide including customer name and IP address of the last login/logout, as well as payment information. Direct access to customer or system information is not available to any government, Coinbase concluded.

The largest number of law enforcement and agency requests came from the United States at 5 304, a 6% increase over the previous period. Second place went to the United Kingdom with 1 744. Overall, about 80% of all requests came from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain. More than 95% of all requests came from law enforcement agencies related to criminal matters rather than civil or administrative matters.

Also in 2022, 21 new countries approached the exchange, 11 of which sent more than one request: Andorra, Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Liechtenstein, Serbia, Slovakia, and Taiwan.

Six countries increased the number of requests by more than 100: Spain (+940%), Belgium (+400%), Italy (+281%), the Netherlands (+163%), Austria (+141%), and Ireland (+118%).

At the end of June, The Intercept journalists published details of the contract between Coinbase and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), under which the agency was provided with Coinbase Tracer services. The software allows transaction tracking and historical geolocation data of shipments. The journalists noted that there was no agreement between the parties imposing restrictions on its use. The company later denied selling the data to authorities, stating that the information transferred came only from publicly available sources and not from the exchange’s user database.