Crypto Company Hit For $400m

Uploaded on 2025-05-30 in TECHNOLOGY--Hackers, FREE TO VIEW, BUSINESS-Services-Financial

The world’s third largest crypto-currency firm Coinbase Global has said that a recent cyber attack will probably cost it around $400m (£301m).

The firm was contacted by hackers who said they had gained access to customer information, obtained by making payments to Coinbase contractors and employees.

Breached data included names and contact information, partial social security and bank account identifiers, government identification images, and some corporate and account data. The disclosure prompted the firm's share price to fall by 4.1%.

The alleged cyber attacker, who demanded money to not disclose the information, appeared to bribe overseas Coinbase employees to obtain the files, the company said. “Criminals targeted our customer support agents overseas. They used cash offers to convince a small group of insiders to copy data in our customer support tools for less than 1% of Coinbase monthly transacting users.

“Their aim was to gather a customer list they could contact while pretending to be Coinbase, tricking people into handing over their crypto,” Coinbase said on their blog. The group then demanded $20m from Coinbase to keep it quiet, but it refused to pay the bribe and instead promised to refund every person who got scammed.

The cyber attack comes days before the US company is set to join the benchmark S&P 500 index, a landmark moment for the crypto industry. It also reflects how, as it grows, the industry has increasingly become a target for cyber criminals.

Following the attack, the exchange says that it will strengthen its internal data management processes and relocate some of its customer support operations to avoid similar incidents.

A report from research firm Chainalysis suggests funds stolen from crypto businesses totalled $2.2bn in 2024.

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