Coinbase began to receive more requests from law enforcement agencies

The last year has become the most intense for the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange in terms of communication with law enforcement agencies – the American platform received 12,300 requests from them.

Coinbase said it has experienced a sharp increase in information requests from law enforcement over the past year. Most of them came from the United States and were related to criminal investigations. The report covered the last four quarters and ended in September.

In total, the exchange received 12,320 information requests from law enforcement over the past year, up 66% from last year. About 5,300 requests were received from the United States – 43% of the total. Germany, Spain and the UK sent between 1,000 and 2,000 requests each, accounting for 80%. The remaining requests were shared among 57 countries.

Coinbase noted that 1,300 requests from Spain is a 940% increase. Spain was one of six countries that more than doubled the number of applications in the last year. Another 21 countries sent requests to Coinbase for the first time in the last year. Among them is the Czech Republic, which sent 104 requests to the crypto exchange.

The company stressed that it could challenge these appeals or ask law enforcement to narrow down their requirements. The exchange does not provide direct access to user information, the message says.

“We may share certain customer information such as name, recent login and logout IP address, and billing information. We also try to provide anonymous or aggregated data that helps law enforcement and government agencies in their work, where possible, ”the report says.

Earlier, Indian crypto exchange WazirX reported that it received 828 requests from police and other law enforcement agencies from April to September 2022.