[2019-03-06] Coinbase CEO Admits ‘Diligence’ Failing, Boots Ex-Hacking Team Empl

[Lmaooo]

Coinbase CEO Admits ‘Diligence’ Failing, Boots Ex-Hacking Team Employees

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has responded to criticisms about betraying the values of Bitcoin and crypto more broadly with its recent acquisition of Neutrino.

Those Neutrino team members who previously worked at Hacking Team will “transition out of Coinbase,” the chief executive said late Monday. Hacking Team, one may recall, was a pioneer in selling hacking tools exploited by authoritarian governments to crack down on journalists and dissidents instead of criminals.

Reiterating that “Neutrino had some of the best technology” among blockchain analytics providers, Armstrong explained in a blog post:

    “However, we had a gap in our diligence process. While we looked hard at the technology and security of the Neutrino product, we did not properly evaluate everything from the perspective of our mission and values as a crypto company.”

    “We took some time to dig into this over the past week, and together with the Neutrino team have come to an agreement: those who previously worked at Hacking Team (despite the fact they have no current affiliation with Hacking Team), will transition out of Coinbase. This was not an easy decision, but their prior work does present a conflict with our mission.”

CCN | https://www.ccn.com/coinbase-ceo-admits-diligence-failing-boots-ex-hacking-team-employees

[1713424375]

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[1713424375]

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[o_e_l_e_o]

Nonsense. They knew fine well the background of those Neutrino members - they just didn't care. Coinbase don't care about customers, privacy, security, or even bitcoin. They only care about greed, and they will do anything do maximize their profits. That was made pretty clear this week when they admitted to selling client data to third parties without clients' knowledge or consent.

The only reason they have made this statement now is because they are seeing people starting to leave their platform. They hoped it would all just blow over, but now their profits are going to be affected they have to take action. Don't be fooled in to thinking they are doing this for moral reasons.

[buwaytress]

Notice how Coinbase has mastered the corporate dark arts of admission and apologising, without actually saying sorry for anything. But come on, they must really have better legal counsel and PR teams than that... admitting that your due diligence is not adequate? This is the age of GDPR, something Hacking Team didn't have to contend with in their hey-day, and with Coinbase branching out to the EU (or shall we say, ex-EU member UK) they surely must know this would have been a point of contention.

Which is worse, showing everyone you need Average Joe online user to tell you your due diligence sucks, proving that you're really not as ready for the big boy financial world as you want to show you are? Or just saying, sorry guys, we knew but we didn't care, now we see how much you care and we're ready to give in and see the light?

P.S. Haven't seen any big Coinbase user go public and say they're no longer using it. Thought one of them influencers would have taken this chance to shill some other exchange by now.

[1Referee]

P.S. Haven't seen any big Coinbase user go public and say they're no longer using it. Thought one of them influencers would have taken this chance to shill some other exchange by now.

It's not an easy task considering that Coinbase is still the best and most secure place within crypto to have fiat enter and exit. For most smaller traders it's pretty easy to switch to Bitstamp or Kraken, but if you look a bit further, Coinbase hasn't ever been hacked, and they are taking their job in being a secure platform extremely serious.

They generate their keypairs within a shielded tent they randomly pop up somewhere. What other exchange does that?

https://www.newsbtc.com/2018/08/30/coinbase-uses-electromagnetic-signal-blocking-tents-to-secure-cryptocurrencies/

Lets hope that Binance manages to gain more ground, especially within the US to offer Coinbase the competition they need. Binance already allows EUR and GBP deposits and withdrawals, USD is the next step, it just can take a while due to the licenses/registrations they need for that.

[figmentofmyass]

Lets hope that Binance manages to gain more ground, especially within the US to offer Coinbase the competition they need. Binance already allows EUR and GBP deposits and withdrawals, USD is the next step, it just can take a while due to the licenses/registrations they need for that.

i have a hard time getting excited about binance's entry into fiat trading. tbh their jersey offering is very disappointing---super high fees. i have no idea how they expect to compete with the likes of coinbase, who can offer 0% maker fees and 0.15 euro SEPA withdrawals. it'll be even worse in the USA considering the compliance costs there---money transmitter licenses required in most states. i doubt they'll be able to compete with coinbase's free bank transfers (and again 0% maker fees).

[elda34b]

It's too late to gain trust from people. The delete Coinbase movement has already started and I think it will go quite long. It's interesting if they admit their due diligence is lacking while people who spent just 10 minutes browsing can know why Neutrino is shady, or at least have a lack of ethical ground. I believe sooner or later this issue will be forgotten, but Coinbase for sure won't gain trust from major users.

[bbc.reporter]

Nonsense. They knew fine well the background of those Neutrino members - they just didn't care. Coinbase don't care about customers, privacy, security, or even bitcoin. They only care about greed, and they will do anything do maximize their profits. That was made pretty clear this week when they admitted to selling client data to third parties without clients' knowledge or consent.

The only reason they have made this statement now is because they are seeing people starting to leave their platform. They hoped it would all just blow over, but now their profits are going to be affected they have to take action. Don't be fooled in to thinking they are doing this for moral reasons.

Also, what happens now? Will the Hacking Team become Coinbase contractors and that are hidden from public view? That might be more dangerous, I reckon.

Coinbase is also doing a good job in turning the criticism away from its acquisition of project Neutrino.

[davis196]

those who previously worked at Hacking Team (despite the fact they have no current affiliation with Hacking Team), will transition out of Coinbase

So those hackers had been fired from Hacking Team and now they are fired from Coinbase?Right?
What does the term "transition out" mean?They are "fired" and will continue to work secretly for Coinbase?
The Coinbase reputation is gone.
This is how to "shoot yourself in the foot" as a corporation.

[BitHodler]

Coinbase is also doing a good job in turning the criticism away from its acquisition of project Neutrino.

Once the social media hype around Coinbase's acquisition starts to fade people will go back to normal and use Coinbase just like how they did before this started. People don't care now because of the bear market.

Once the market starts pumping again they'll realize that Coinbase is actually a great platform to deal with despite everything they did that users didn't like. That's how this space has always been.

Just look at how shady Bitfinex is. When they got 'hacked' people were mad, and rightfully so, but look at how things are right now.... No one cares about what happened back then and people still use it as their main exchange.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Also, what happens now? Will the Hacking Team become Coinbase contractors and that are hidden from public view? That might be more dangerous, I reckon.

Who knows? They have been deliberately vague about which team members will be "transitioning", when it will happen, what it will involve, and where they will be transitioning to. The fact the didn't say removed, or excluded, or fired, or anything like that, but instead used "transitioning", is pretty suspect in and of itself. I wouldn't at all be surprised if they transition to a subsidiary which is wholly owned by Coinbase and works only for Coinbase, but in the legal sense, isn't Coinbase.

[J. Cooper]

It's too late to gain trust from people. The delete Coinbase movement has already started and I think it will go quite long. It's interesting if they admit their due diligence is lacking while people who spent just 10 minutes browsing can know why Neutrino is shady, or at least have a lack of ethical ground. I believe sooner or later this issue will be forgotten, but Coinbase for sure won't gain trust from major users.

The #DeleteCoinbase movement is only going to hurt Coinbase if there surfaces a worthy competitor that is on the same level as Coinbase right now. This implies, as figmentofmyass correctly pointed out, low deposit fees, a clean UI and smooth UX. As of right now, there's no such competitor on the market right now and Coinbase knows that. Binance's attempt has not really been gaining traction, struggling to get a single bitcoin of trading volume on their main pairs. Binance is simply to expensive to use right now. I hope Binance Jersey is some sort of prototype for a final version on their main exchange.

[figmentofmyass]

Also, what happens now? Will the Hacking Team become Coinbase contractors and that are hidden from public view? That might be more dangerous, I reckon.

that was already the situation. they are a private company. they don't need to disclose anything to the public about their expenditures on blockchain analysis. they were obviously already contracting out blockchain analysis work out to existing companies since they've been closing customer accounts for links to gambling and other sites for years already. i always assumed it was elliptic or chainalysis or some company like that. apparently they're working with neutrino.....