Coinbase data leak linked to Indian contractor - Reuters

Back in January 2025, crypto exchange Coinbase learned of a possible leak of its customer data related to its Indian contractor TaskUs.

As Reuters has found out, one of the employees of the company's office in India was noticed taking pictures of the screen of an office computer on her personal smartphone. According to the investigation, the woman passed on such information to hackers, receiving a monetary reward for this.

However, the exchange itself officially confirmed the incident only in May, when the attackers approached it, threatening to publish user data unless $20 million was paid. The hackers claimed to have information on 69,461 platform clients , including names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, bank details, document scans, and transaction history. For the exchange, this incident became a reason for large-scale internal checks, which are expected to cost it between $180 million and $400 million, including the costs of the investigation, compensation for victims, and upgrading security systems.

After the issue was identified, TaskUs, which provides customer support for Coinbase, acknowledged the leak and said that more than 200 employees working on the issue had been fired. The company's management noted that the incident was part of a larger fraud scheme organized within the call center. At this time, no arrests have been reported for those involved in the leak.