Coinbase Offers US Feds New Crypto Surveillance Tools

Jun 5, 2020 at 22:10 UTCUpdated Jun 6, 2020 at 02:13 UTC.Coinbase Analytics has ties throughout the gargantuan crypto exchange but only uses publicly-available data, according to Coinbase.

Coinbase is getting in on the government blockchain analytics game.

Coinbase Analytics has close ties with Coinbase's entire product ecosystem, as its Senior Product Manager "Collaborates" with "Coinbase Consumer, Coinbase Pro, and Coinbase Custody as well as" Coinbase's payments and crypto division, according to an undated but now closed job posting.

In an emailed statement, Coinbase said its Analytics product does not and has never used any internal customer data.

"Coinbase Analytics data is fully sourced from online, publicly-available data, and does not include any personally-identifiable information for anyone, regardless of whether or not they use Coinbase," a spokesperson told CoinDesk.

Coinbase joins a crowded field of cryptocurrency analytics companies - Chainalysis, Elliptic, CipherTrace and others - vying for a piece of the federal pie.

They are unique, as the IRS notice, published in April, notes Coinbase Analytics has "Enhanced law enforcement sensitive capabilities that are not currently found in other tools on the market."

"It's an important tool to meet our regulatory requirements and protect our customers' funds," Coinbase said.

The DEA's interest appears to stem in part from Coinbase Analytics' pinpoint accuracy.

UPDATE:: This article has been updated to include comment from Coinbase.