Coinbase, the American cryptocurrency exchange, has become the target of hackers who stole customer data and demanded $20 million to prevent the information from being disclosed.
This was reported by the Financial Times.
Following this news, the company’s shares fell by 5.4% during morning trading in New York, after rising 25% on Tuesday due to an announcement about its inclusion in a prestigious U.S. stock index.
"Hackers attempted to obtain a list of customers to impersonate Coinbase, deceive them, and force them to transfer their cryptocurrencies. They then demanded $20 million to hide the incident. We refused," the company stated on its website.
Coinbase, headquartered in California, has announced a $20 million reward for information that leads to the arrest and prosecution of the criminals.
This year, hackers stole $1.5 billion worth of cryptocurrency from the Bybit exchange, marking the largest theft in the industry's history.
According to Chainalysis, the total losses from attacks on cryptocurrency exchanges increased by 21% last year to over $2.2 billion, with most occurring in the Asia-Pacific region. Hackers linked to the North Korean government stole $1.3 billion from this amount.
The attack on Coinbase occurred amid a wave of cyberattacks on well-known companies worldwide. In recent weeks, criminals have targeted the French fashion house Dior, and British department stores Harrods and Marks and Spencer.
Coinbase reported that the criminals "bribed and recruited" support staff outside the U.S. to obtain customer data. These employees were immediately terminated.
The company clarified that the hackers only accessed information about a portion of customers. The breach included fragments of Social Security numbers, bank account details, account information, and copies of documents such as passports or driver’s licenses. Passwords, keys, and funds were not compromised.
Coinbase stated that it will compensate customers who fell victim to fraud, estimating that the compensation amount could range from $180 million to $400 million.
Reminder:
The cryptocurrency exchange Bybit suffered a massive hacking attack in February 2025, resulting in nearly $1.5 billion being stolen from its Ethereum cold wallet.
