After Coinbase offered to license its analytics platform to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the users of exchange removed over $200 million worth of Bitcoins. The exchange claims that it will only be providing the IRS and DEA with “streamlined access to publicly-available data. However, according to the exchange, they won’t have access to any internal or customer data. The users feel like their privacy is being violated or might be violated if the deal with the federal agencies pushes through.
More than 22,500 BTC has been withdrawn from Coinbase.
Since the US-based crypto exchange announced its offer to the DEA and IRS, more than 22,500 BTC worth over $200 million has been withdrawn or sent to a different wallet. Coinbase’s government offer has caused many of its customers to remove their funds, stop using the exchange, and publicly denounce the exchange with the hashtag BoycottCoinbase. The move by Coinbase was criticized by many in the crypto community.
Crypto community questions Coinbase’s loyalty to customers.
A Twitter user with the username CADawg tweeted that Coinbase is trying to be like Google by profiting off of their customers’ data. He goes on to say that they deleted their Coinbase account. The US-based crypto exchange’s users were increasingly becoming frustrated with the digital currency exchange before it made the government an offer. During periods when crypto-assets saw large price swings in a matter of seconds and minutes, the platform would often crash, and be unusable.
Since Coinbase has offered to work with the government, the platform has experienced an exodus. Coinbase also has a history of dealing with government. Privacy among crypto users is considered sacred, and it is one of the main reasons why people use crypto. The deal of Coinbase with government agencies has further raised the eyebrows of its users and the crypto community.
#FuckCoinbase #BoycottCoinbase https://t.co/Koymj3XNdv
— CADawg (I ❤️ Hive) (@_CADawg) June 6, 2020