Coinbase Has Been Indicted of Illegal Data Harvesting by US Court

• Coinbase has been accused of violating the US biometric privacy law.
• The suit alleges that Coinbase harvests facial data from copies of govt-issued IDs.
• The firm’s collection of such data allegedly exposes users to irreversible privacy risks.

The US-based crypto exchange, Coinbase, has been indicted of violating the US biometric privacy law for illegally collecting face templates and fingerprints of its customers in a Monday suit before a federal court in San Francisco.

According to the report from Bloomberg, Coinbase harvests facial data from copies of government-issued IDs and selfies that users upload when signing up for an account. The suit argued that the company’s collection and storage of such data expose users to serious and irreversible privacy risks, such as identity theft, in the event of a data breach.

The complaint states:

Coinbase has created, collected, and stored thousands of ‘face templates’ — highly detailed geometric maps of the face — and fingerprints from countless Illinois residents.

While Coinbase is yet to comment on the most recent lawsuit alleging it of illegal data harvesting, the exchange, on the other hand, is battling potential securities law breaches with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In March, the US regulator issued a Wells notice to Coinbase, threatening to sue the company over some of the exchange’s products, including its spot market offering, Earn, Prime, and Wallet products.

However, in April, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and the company’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal submitted a “Wells response,” equally threatening a legal battle. Armstrong stated that a Wells notice with no clear rule book was neither constructive nor in the interest of Americans.

“We are prepared to defend our position in court,” the Coinbase CEO noted, “but we welcome a true dialogue about a workable path forward for our industry.”