TechCrunch founder: Coinbase data leak may pose a threat to user safety

Odaily News Michael Arrington, founder of TechCrunch, said that Coinbase's recent data breach could pose a serious threat to users' personal safety. He pointed out that the leaked information included users' home addresses and account balances, which could make high-net-worth cryptocurrency holders targets for crimes such as kidnapping. Arrington stressed that regulators should re-evaluate mandatory KYC (know your customer) data collection policies and called for criminal prosecution of executives who fail to properly protect customer information. Former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan also pointed out that state-mandated KYC data collection may be the root cause of such risks.
Coinbase previously disclosed that hackers attempted to extort $20 million in Bitcoin after an overseas customer service employee was bribed to leak user data. The company refused to pay and offered a reward of the same amount to hunt down the criminals, while promising to compensate affected users. The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into this. Former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan pointed out that the fundamental problem lies in the government's mandatory KYC data collection system. (Decrypt)