U.S. tops the chart in law enforcement requests to Coinbase

• Nearly 57% of the requests originated from the U.S. alone.
• Coinbase alerted its customers about a CFTC subpoena linked to Bybit. 

In the modern age, businesses are duty-bound to protect the tons of data entrusted with them by their customers. However, legal compliance obligations necessitate sharing some information with the government from time to time.

In such a situation, making the customers aware of such requests for data goes a long way to retaining their trust.

Coinbase publishes transparency report

One of the biggest Web3 companies, Coinbase [COIN], reported a 6% rise in requests from law enforcement agencies and governments from around the world, as per its latest transparency report.

This report covered the period from 1st October, 2022 to 30th September, 2023. The requests concerned civil, criminal, and other investigative matters.

Nearly 57% of the 13,079 requests received by Coinbase originated from the United States alone, marking an increase of 7% from last year. U.S. topped the list in the previous report as well.

Source: Coinbase

Criminal enforcement matters made up 90% of all requests received from the U.S. Moreover, 95% of all requests received from around the globe were from criminal enforcement agencies.

Source: Coinbase

At 1,906, Germany was the second-biggest source of such requests for data. The four countries – the U.S., Germany, the UK, and Spain- accounted for nearly 73% of all global requests.

The numbers in 2023 represented a 6x jump in requests since Coinbase published its first transparency report in 2020. The exponential increase could be ascribed to Coinbase’s increased geographic penetration over the years.

The trading platform claimed that it was active in over 100 countries with 245,000 ecosystem partners.

Secondly, with a growing market of cryptos and blockchains as a whole, governments around the world have started to push for greater scrutiny. Apart from ensuring adherence to local laws, enforcement agencies utilize the data to locate transactions linked with crime.

Coinbase alerts customers about CFTC subpoena

Just recently, Coinbase alerted its customers about a subpoena it received from the U.S. derivatives regulator Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

According to the email that was shared on social platform X, the regulator was seeking information about users who have also interacted with Dubai-based crypto exchange Bybit.

Coinbase said that it would have to share users’ transaction history with the agency unless the subpoena is quashed by a court order before 3oth November.