According to the agreement, the other side of which is the US Department of Homeland Security, the company has agreed to disclose all customer transactions in the last 3 years to the authorities in order to transfer information about the location of crypto currency wallets and geographical locations of devices.

Details of the deal

• Tech Inquiry claims that the information is sent to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in real time from the Coinbase Tracer program.
• Initially, the program was called Coinbase Analytics and was intended to implement the KYT – “know your trade” mechanism that filters out suspicious addresses. He also collected and analyzed the relationship between addresses. And now he has other duties.
• Data transfer agreement signed last September for $1.37 million and is one of several minor contracts between Coinbase and US government agencies. Prior to that, in August 2021, Coinbase sold ICE a license to use an analytical software product for $29,000 – apparently this was done to test the capabilities.
• According to The Intercept, ICE has the ability to track transactions using more than 10 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether.

Coinbase said it does not require ICE to approve its agreement to an end-user license agreement that imposes specific restrictions on how a customer can use the software.

The exchange confirmed the information regarding the transfer of customers’ geolocation data, but stated that it “only transmits information from open sources”. Coinbase representatives do not comment on exactly how ICE uses the platform’s customer data. At the same time, they say that confidential data received from traders is not given to the Ministry.