Coinbase Breach: Customer Data Stolen, $20M Ransom Demanded

[Lucius]

~snip~
I predict that the first DEX team that could create an experience for users similar to CEX will certainly make much money in revenues from fees hehehehee.

How do you imagine that DEX can ever provide an experience like CEX, especially when it comes to liquidity? In addition, even if a DEX succeeded and became planetaryly popular, all these big players who earn huge amounts through CEXs would join forces and do everything possible to bring down that DEX legally. All they would have to do is "hire" hackers to hack someone and then try to "launder" coins through that DEX - well, we recently saw exactly that in the case of eXch and we all know how that story ended.

This is the information on what was leaked. This is very headshaking.

That's how geniuses do it, they keep all the data together - except the bad guys know you have an account open on that CEX, now they also know if you're a target worth attacking. I wonder if people will ever understand the risks they are taking when they create accounts on CEXs or when they buy hardware wallets online using their personal information.

[TryNinja]

~snip~
I predict that the first DEX team that could create an experience for users similar to CEX will certainly make much money in revenues from fees hehehehee.

How do you imagine that DEX can ever provide an experience like CEX, especially when it comes to liquidity? In addition, even if a DEX succeeded and became planetaryly popular, all these big players who earn huge amounts through CEXs would join forces and do everything possible to bring down that DEX legally. All they would have to do is "hire" hackers to hack someone and then try to "launder" coins through that DEX - well, we recently saw exactly that in the case of eXch and we all know how that story ended.

Nowadays this is not that far away actually. Hyperliquid for example made $181 billion total volume with 455k users on the last month. It's cheaper than a CEX and has instant trading because they have their own L1 blockchain. It's not a perfect solution, but they do nice trade offs that allow you to trade (including with leverage) with the same experience you have on Binance, Bybit, etc...

https://stats.hyperliquid.xyz/

[Helena Yu]

After seizing the data, the attackers attempted to extort Coinbase, demanding $20 million in exchange for not publishing the details of the breach. However, Coinbase did not pay the ransom.

They claim to provide the best protection, but they don't even show if they want to protect their customers' data. Regardless Coinbase get scammed or not, they should give the $20 Million, all they can do is fulfill what the attackers' wants.

We respect your rights over your personal information

We only collect the necessary personal data in order to provide you with the best protection and services we can – and are transparent in how we use it and why we share it.

People will not learn from this incident, instead of learn to not use CEX, they will move to other CEX instead.

[bbc.reporter]

~snip~
I predict that the first DEX team that could create an experience for users similar to CEX will certainly make much money in revenues from fees hehehehee.

How do you imagine that DEX can ever provide an experience like CEX, especially when it comes to liquidity? In addition, even if a DEX succeeded and became planetaryly popular, all these big players who earn huge amounts through CEXs would join forces and do everything possible to bring down that DEX legally. All they would have to do is "hire" hackers to hack someone and then try to "launder" coins through that DEX - well, we recently saw exactly that in the case of eXch and we all know how that story ended.

I am very much aware that it would be difficult for a DEX to be created that will give the people a competitive exchange against a CEX. However, as programmers are motivated by difficult problems, there will be some programmers in the cryptospace who will be developing new platforms to create this dream of a DEX that will give a similar performance as a CEX.

There were attempts on this already like DYDX and GMX and this will certainly not be the last attempts. The cryptospace is the future for KYCless speculative trading.

[rat03gopoh]

Regardless Coinbase get scammed or not, they should give the $20 Million, all they can do is fulfill what the attackers' wants.

What if it was just an initial ransom? The users data is already in the hands of the attacker and can be copied infinitely, coinbase is a large scale business that I think it would be stupid not to realize this extortion attempt will end in a ransom price of $20 million. This is not a new crime story in this industry.

[tabas]

We respect your rights over your personal information

We only collect the necessary personal data in order to provide you with the best protection and services we can – and are transparent in how we use it and why we share it.

People will not learn from this incident, instead of learn to not use CEX, they will move to other CEX instead.

We have no choice. Most of the dex that we want to choose don't have much volume although there are some of the suggestions from the other forum members that are good to use. But to be honest, the volume that these CEXes like Coinbase is a lot. If we use them, we only have to remember to only deposit the amount that we're exactly going to trade and with the data that we're providing to them, they don't even have control on it once a breach happens. And that's why when these breaches happen to them, we're on our own.

[NotATether]

After seizing the data, the attackers attempted to extort Coinbase, demanding $20 million in exchange for not publishing the details of the breach. However, Coinbase did not pay the ransom. The attackers managed to steal customers' names, phone numbers, email addresses, and government-issued documents such as national IDs, passports, and driver's licenses.

Why should anyone even bother to submit their documents to random no-name platforms, when even the most reputable exchanges can't even safeguard their own customers' documents from being stolen? I want to hear one good reason.

...

See? There are none!

Don't use a KYC exchange if you can possibly help it. The fewer places your identity is used, the less likely it is that you will end up a victim of identity theft and fraud, as these poor customers are soon going to find out.

[Z-tight]

And that's why when these breaches happen to them, we're on our own.

Yeah, ledger customers are still attacked through phishing until today, for a data breach that happened in 2020, so that is it, once your personal data is exposed, you surely cannot tell if the attack will ever stop.

We have no choice. Most of the dex that we want to choose don't have much volume although there are some of the suggestions from the other forum members that are good to use.

There are people who have accounts in numerous kyc service and i think such people are at a higher risk of having their data exposed to the public. Even if Coinbase had paid this ransom, how could they be sure that the 'hacker' would not still go on to expose the data after receiving the ransom.

[yhiaali3]

Compensation for those affected?!! What's the point of compensation if they lost their sensitive personal data??!!

The hackers are now negotiating with Coinbase, demanding $20 million to keep the details of the breach private. If Coinbase does not comply, they may resort to selling this sensitive data, such as national ID cards, passports, driver's licenses and other data, to buyers on the darknet market for use in illegal activities, exposing users to significant risk.

[Ultegra134]

Compensation for those affected?!! What's the point of compensation if they lost their sensitive personal data??!!

The hackers are now negotiating with Coinbase, demanding $20 million to keep the details of the breach private. If Coinbase does not comply, they may resort to selling this sensitive data, such as national ID cards, passports, driver's licenses and other data, to buyers on the darknet market for use in illegal activities, exposing users to significant risk.

And what kind of compensation can they provide that's enough? The data loss isn't reversible, this data leak will be over the darknet for years to come and I cannot know if they can do a lot more than spamming you with phishing emails, through your personal details, ID, VAT number etc, data you've submitted for KYC. I'm talking about possible identity theft, may sound a little far-fetched, but everything is possible. I am not surprised at all, and it's Coinbase fault for allowing the smaller link in the chain to have access to such trivial data.

[tabas]

And that's why when these breaches happen to them, we're on our own.

Yeah, ledger customers are still attacked through phishing until today, for a data breach that happened in 2020, so that is it, once your personal data is exposed, you surely cannot tell if the attack will ever stop.

That's right but we won't be a victim if we don't entertain those phishing attempts. The emails that we receive that are suspicious, don't give time to them and ignore it as much as we can.

We have no choice. Most of the dex that we want to choose don't have much volume although there are some of the suggestions from the other forum members that are good to use.

There are people who have accounts in numerous kyc service and i think such people are at a higher risk of having their data exposed to the public. Even if Coinbase had paid this ransom, how could they be sure that the 'hacker' would not still go on to expose the data after receiving the ransom.

Exactly. They will never know if the hacker won't expose those information that they have hacked. It's just a matter of trust for them but are we going to trust these cons that have hacked them? we will never know so, it's possible that our details were already somewhere in hands of another cons.

[Becassine]

Important information:
Coinbase amended its User Agreement in May 2025. This update was confirmed as part of Coinbase's response to the data breach affecting approximately 69,461 customers, publicly disclosed on May 15, 2025.

The amendments include clauses aimed at limiting class actions and requiring that disputes be filed in New York, under that state's jurisdiction (for us customers). These adjustments may appear to have been introduced in anticipation of the potential legal repercussions related to the data breach, to protect Coinbase from mass lawsuits from affected customers.

Source : https://www.coinbase.com/legal/user_agreement/united_states

=> Coinbase was aware of the leak as early as December 2024 (but did not inform its customers).

https://x.com/CryptoSassBot/status/1924912754697372086

French customers : KYC data (names, identity documents, etc.) is retained for 5 years to comply with anti-money laundering laws. Transaction data is also retained for 5 years for tax and legal reasons.

Us customers : Businesses must comply with anti-money laundering laws (Bank Secrecy Act) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requirements, which require KYC and transaction data to be retained for 5 to 7 years after account closure.

Billing Data: Typically retained for 7 years to meet IRS (Internal Revenue Service) tax obligations.

This means, of course, that if you had an account with a CEX in the past, your data has probably already been stolen. Today or yesterday.

and we don't necessarily know that when we open an account...