Coinbase is Reportedly Selling Geo-Location Data to ICE
- Coinbase reportedly sold licenses valued at about $50,000 to the US Secret service in May 2020 and April 2021.
Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) will provide the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agencies with Crypto user’s basic information. Consequently, COIN shares are down approximately 4 percent in today’s premarket.
This new development came to the limelight through a contract obtained by Tech Inquiry, a watchdog group. As revealed, the Coinbase Tracer will make historical geo-tracking data and transaction history available to the agencies.
Is Coinbase Misusing Customer Data?
As stipulated, the contract reportedly incorporated necessary information capable of providing more details regarding the subsisting three-year contract between Coinbase exchange and ICE.
Now, an agent from Coinbase refuted the claims that the information provided by the Analytics software entails the data of the exchange’s customers. Reportedly, Coinbase tracer only harnesses publicly obtainable data, grossly sourced online.
He insisted that the data does not contain any confidential information of anyone, or any proprietary coinbase subscriber.
According to findings, the contract between Coinbase and United States agencies is one among the numerous deals existing between the parties. Reports revealed that this particular contract was signed last September with about $1.37 million.
Worth noting, the crypto exchange agreed with ICE in August to license the agency’s analytics software. The contract, as reported, is worth about $29,000.
More so, the crypto exchange reportedly sold licenses valued at about $50,000 to the US Secret service in May 2020 and April 2021. Over time, a series of controversies have greeted the functionalities of Tracer, initially identified as Coinbase Analytics. As programmed, the subsidiary of the exchange (Tracer) is mandated to always develop and sustain software programs by Coinbase.
How Tracer came into the limelight
According to findings, it emanated following the 2019 acquisition of Neutrino, a software blockchain intelligence firm by Coinbase. As revealed, the team from the intelligence firm previously worked with a start-up that traded spyware to various governments. The firm also sold spyware to Saudi Arabian authorities.
According to Court Hillman, a BSA Officer at Coinbase, Coinbase tracer is a software package that strengthens critical signals and ideas in Sardines Transaction Monitoring Solution. Hillman believes Tracer helps to secure crypto industries around the world by looking out for unlawful activities.
The officer stated that Coinbase Tracer avails users with the satisfaction of using exact crypto data tools as one of the most trusted brands in the industry. According to him, the project provides comfortable and outstanding customer care services, trustable by users.
Rebecca is a Senior Staff Writer at BitcoinWisdom, working hard to bring you the latest breaking news in the cryptocurrency market. In the words of Elon Musk “Buy stock in several companies that make products & services that *you* believe in. Only sell if you think their products & services are trending worse. Don’t panic when the market does. This will serve you well in the long-term.”
