ChainCatcher reports that, according to Decrypt, TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington stated that Coinbase's recent data breach could pose a serious threat to users' personal safety. He pointed out that the leaked information includes users' home addresses and account balances, which could make high-net-worth cryptocurrency holders targets for criminal activities such as kidnapping.
Arrington emphasized that regulators should reassess mandatory KYC (Know Your Customer) data collection policies and called for criminal liability for executives who fail to properly protect customer information. Former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan also noted that government-mandated KYC data collection could be the root cause of such risks.
Coinbase previously disclosed that after overseas customer service personnel were bribed to leak user data, hackers attempted to extort 2 million USD in Bitcoin. The company refused to pay and offered an equivalent reward to capture the criminals, while promising to compensate affected users. The US Department of Justice has launched an investigation. Former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan pointed out that the fundamental problem lies in the government-mandated KYC data collection system.
