Coinbase, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is facing a rough patch as it prepares to join the S&P 500 on May 19. The company recently disclosed a data breach that could cost up to $400 million to fix, and refused to pay a $20 million ransom demand from cybercriminals who stole user data.
The breach only affected “less than 1% of Coinbase’s monthly transacting users,” which translates to fewer than 80,000 people. The company has sent an email to all affected customers and is establishing a $20 million reward fund for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the attackers.
Coinbase is also facing a fresh probe from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is investigating whether the company misstated its user numbers in past disclosures. The SEC dropped a lawsuit against Coinbase earlier this year but is now looking into a 2021 S-1 filing that claimed the company had over 100 million “verified users.”
Despite these challenges, Coinbase’s stock is roughly back to where it was at the start of the year after taking a tariff-induced hit. The company reported $2.03 billion in first-quarter revenue, up 24% year over year, and has been working to strengthen its platform through the acquisition of crypto options exchange Deribit earlier this month.
Source: https://fortune.com/2025/05/16/coinbase-data-breach-ransom-sec-investigation