Russia for the first time requests data on Coinbase customers

In 2021, the largest American cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase received five requests for information about users from Russian state and law-enforcement authorities. This is stated in the отчете о прозрачности сервиса, covering the period from January 1 to September 30.

This is already the third such report, but Russia did not feature in the first two. There is no detailed information about the content of the requests.

Overall, in the first three quarters of 2021 the exchange received 5,562 government requests. A large share (84%) collectively falls to the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. These countries consistently lead in the number of communications with the platform.

Alongside Russia, for the first time this year, Latvia, Greece, India, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Hungary, also sought information about Coinbase customers.

Coinbase said that requests from law enforcement and government authorities generally concern information about customer accounts and financial reports in connection with civil, criminal, or other investigations.

“These requests may include subpoenas, court orders, search warrants, or other forms of official judicial process. We are obliged to respond to such requests if they are valid under financial regulations and other applicable laws,” said Coinbase representatives.

The number of requests received by the exchange in the first three quarters of 2021 is about 27% higher than for all of 2020. The platform currently has more than 73 million customers worldwide, according to its own data.

In June, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said that since the start of the year the exchange had answered 5,600 inquiries from law enforcement. Compared with 2020, this figure had doubled.

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