Coinbase reported in its most recent transparency report that it has witnessed an increase in law enforcement information requests over the last year. Most of the inquiries came from the United States, and many were related to criminal investigations.
Coinbase’s new transparency report covers the last four quarters ending with September. This year, the exchange received more information requests from law enforcement than ever before, with 12,320. That’s an increase of around 66%. 4,3% of these requests were made by the United States, which accounted for 5,304. Between 1,000 and 2,000 requests were made by the United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain. These four countries received 80% of the requests. Requests were also made by 57 countries.
Spain’s 1,304 requests represent an increase of 9450%. It was one of six countries which had received more than twice as many enquiries during the past year. Twenty-one countries submitted requests during the reporting period. The Czech Republic sent 104.
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According to the report, Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at Coinbase, may ask agencies to limit their requests or challenge them, according to their team of lawyers. However, the exchange does not give law enforcement direct access.
“Coinbase may produce certain customer information, such as name, recent login/logout IP address, and payment information; this type of information may be subject to requests by government and law enforcement agencies when a customer uses one of our applications or our website, as described in our privacy policy.”
“We also aim to provide anonymized or aggregated data that aids law enforcement and government agencies with their work, where it is possible to do so,” the report added.
Coinbase is proud and happy to present its fourth transparency report, which summarizes data requests we received from law enforcement agencies and government agencies regarding customer information. ⬇️ https://t.co/PGQ0gZ8qE5
— paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) December 12, 2022
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in an interview earlier in December that the exchange’s trading revenue fell by about half over the past year. Coinbase boasts 108 million customers around the world.