Cryptocurrency community criticizes Coinbase collaboration with US government

The Coinbase exchange faced a wave of criticism from the community after announcing plans to cooperate withUS government agencies.

Last Friday, The Block reportedthat the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange plans to license its blockchain analytics software so that it can be used by US federal agencies, in particular the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Coinbase spokeswoman told Decrypt,that "this tool offers only simplified access to data, and in no way gives access to any Coinbase internal or client data." However, the cryptocurrency community reacted negatively to exchange plans.

Casa Technical Director Jameson Lopp tweeted:

"This is not surprising, our distrust of the exchange is growing, we will do our best to make your analytical software obsolete."

Cryptocurrency trader Josh Rager, citing analytics service Whale Alert, wrote that 6,000 BTC were withdrawn from Coinbase. He noted:

"It seems like BTC equivalent to millionsdollars, leave Coinbase. Investors and traders are no longer limited to Coinbase or Bitmex. If you cheat customers, engage in dubious transactions or do not improve the product, customers can now go elsewhere to trade and invest. ”

These notes are just the tip of the iceberg of criticism,as expressed by community representatives regarding Coinbase. TFTC podcast co-author Matt Odell tweeted to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and asked, “Why do you hate your customers so much?” Crypto Lark also expressed his opinion:

"Coinbase sells its DEA and IRS software ... They've been downhill since they opposed WikiLeaks."

This isn't the first time Coinbase has gotten itself into trouble.criticism of the cryptocurrency community. In April 2018, Wikileaks called for a boycott of Coinbase after the exchange without notice blocked the official Wikileaks store, which sells various souvenirs: clothing, accessories, phone cases, stickers, posters, books and crypto-cats. .

Also, at the beginning of last year, the communitynegatively perceived the news about the acquisition of the Neutrino startup by the exchange, starting the campaign under the hashtag #DeleteCoinbase. A negative attitude towards Coinbase was formed due to the decision to store private key backups in cloud services and the addition of XRP to Coinbase Pro, but it is assumed that the purchase of Neutrino was the last straw.

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