Estonian Authorities Leak Over 200 Email Addresses From Crypto Trading Companies

The authorities from Estonia have leaked the email addresses of over 200 crypto trading firms during a recent data breach. The Estonian Police and Board Guard recently started a plan to follow anti-money laundering activities in the country, so it emailed several companies in the country with questions that should be answered.

This email’s recipients were not hidden, however, which has shown to the world the email addresses of several other companies and prompted people in the crypto industry to claim that the police were very irresponsible.

In the email, all crypto companies were given a total of four weeks to answer. Participation was deemed mandatory as they should release data about their operations to the authorities so that the police could fight money laundering and terrorism.

The guidelines of the email are backed by the Estonian law, but the European Union’s General Regulation and Personal Data Protection laws require a level of confidentiality in this kind of dealing, and the authorities seem to have failed at that, which can cause a lawsuit.

This is not the first time that this kind of incident happens in the industry. In fact, it is the second this month. Some time ago, BitMEX also shared the emails of several customers by sending a mass email, which caused several people in the industry to criticize it.

Data privacy is being taken more seriously every day and yet companies and institutions fail to uphold their responsibility to protect the privacy of their clients. Unfortunately, while these problems are not completely overcome, we’ll continue to face issues in the industry.