Coinbase’s Hairball Comments About Sharing Customer ID Data is Circulating in the Community

As many of our readers are probably already aware of, Coinbase recently acquired blockchain analytics firm Neutrino, a startup that has been linked to a notorious group (Hacking Team) associated with various governments indulging in human rights violation and abuse.

In the wake of these developments, Coinbase executive Christine Sandler gave an interview to Cheddar last week where she was quoted as saying that her company’s previous analytics provider had been involved in the

“selling of client information to outside sources.”

This caused a severe backlash from within the global crypto community— as a result of which the Coinbase PR team issued a fresh new statement claiming that the exchange itself had never shared any customer related data to a third-party entity.

At this point in the article, it is also worth pointing out that the core role of a blockchain analytics firm is to sell aggregated wallet data — without disclosing any customer names or a client’s identifying personal information.

More On The Matter

As things stand, the crypto industry at large requires analytics firms to procure anonymous transaction data which is then commercialized and sold to clients that are looking to investigate any suspicious activities.

In this regard, Chainanalysis’ Jonathan Levin recently spoke with a respected crypto media outlet saying that analytics firms often supply companies with “wallet and transaction information” without any associated names or other account information. This data is then used by them to weed out bad actors and other nefarious agents from within their ecosystems.

With that being said, it still remains to be seen whether or not Coinbase decides to adopt a similar model or not— because it could very well make use of a framework wherein it can utilize user data for financial gains.

In relation to the matter, a spokesperson for Coinbase was recently quoted as saying:

“We will not share broad sets of transaction and address information with vendors if it is beyond their immediate scope of work”

Other Key Points Worth Bearing In Mind

• In a recent interview with Cryptico CEO and former Coinbase user Eduardo Hernández, the entrepreneur made it clear that he was cutting all ties with the trading platform since he found their “lack of transparency to be terrifying.”
• Similarly, another Coinbase user, who can be identified by his official Twitter handle @Lowbtc stated that the premier crypto exchange has a long history of “failing to take action against employees known to be engaging in illegal activities such as insider trading”.

Final Take

In rounding off this article, it is worth noting that a popular crypto analyst who wishes to remain unnamed at this point is also of the opinion that by partnering with Neutrino, Coinbase has exposed its customer base to a host of security risks.