US Government Tells Leading Bitcoin Exchange It Wants Identities Of CustomersCoinbase Says It's Not Complying At This Time |
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The United States Department of Justice has requested that a leading digital asset exchange company hand over the identities of some of its customers.
According to a report from Forbes, the DoJ, on behalf of the IRS, says that Coinbase, a San Francisco company that facilitates bitcoin transactions, needs to hand over the names of people who transferred digital currency between Dec. 31, 2013 and Dec. 31, 2015.
Coinbase is the largest bitcoin exchange in the United States.
To obtain the records for uncovering possible tax violations, the government is using a seldom used method called a “John Doe” summons. The action reportedly is legal because although it doesn’t identify individuals by name, it can group them by an activity.
“There is a reasonable basis for believing that such group or class of persons may fail, or may have failed, to comply with one or more provisions of the internal revenue laws,” the government said in a court document filed Friday.
According to a report from CNET.com, Coinbase might challenging the court filing.
“Although Coinbase’s general practice is to cooperate with properly targeted law enforcement inquiries, we are extremely concerned with the indiscriminate breadth of the government’s request,” the company said in a statement. “Our customers’ privacy rights are important to us and our legal team is in the process of examining the government’s petition.”
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