Latest news with #BrianArmstrong
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Coinbase reveals shocking data leak
Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN), the largest crypto exchange in the U.S., has revealed that personal data from 69,461 individuals got exposed in the data leak in its filing with the Maine Attorney General's Office. The exchange had earlier claimed that the data leak affected less than 1% of its users. As previously reported, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong informed his followers about the leak on X on May 15. The leaked information included customer names, addresses, and emails — with no impact on passwords, private keys, and funds. The hackers demanded $20 million in Bitcoin from the exchange. Armstrong said he instead announced a $20 million bounty for leads on those responsible. Only "less than 1% of our monthly transacting users had their records accessed," the CEO said. As per the latest filing, the incident took place on Dec. 26, 2024, and Coinbase discovered it on May 11, 2025. Of the 69,461 affected customers, approximately 217 reside in Maine. "We are offering all impacted individuals one year of free credit monitoring and identity protection services," Coinbase said. "The services include credit monitoring, a $1,000,000 insurance reimbursement policy and identity restoration, and dark web monitoring to identify if any information is made available through illegal online forums." The Department of Justice has opened a probe into the data breach. The exchange is already under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding whether it overstated its user numbers in past filings. Coinbase's chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, called it a 'hold-over investigation.' The COIN stock was trading at $260.41 in pre-market hours at the time of writing, down 0.35% since the last day's close. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
After rocky week, Coinbase becomes first crypto exchange to join the S&P 500
Coinbase on Monday became the first cryptocurrency exchange to join the Standard & Poor's 500 index, marking a pivotal moment for the digital assets industry. The inclusion on the S&P 500 also was a point of pride for Coinbase, which consumers use to buy, sell, transfer and store various cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. The S&P 500 tracks the stock performance of 500 leading publicly traded companies in the United States. "This milestone represents what the true believers, from retail investors to institutional investors to our employees and partners, knew all along. Crypto is here to stay," said Coinbase Chief Executive Brian Armstrong in a post on the social media platform X. Coinbase first made its public debut in 2021, when it listed its shares on the Nasdaq. Initially based in San Francisco, Coinbase became a remote-first company and isn't headquartered in one city. The move comes as the Trump administration bolsters an industry that backed the Republican president's return to the White House. While cryptocurrency companies expect to face a more friendly regulatory environment under Trump, who also launched his own meme coin, they're still encountering familiar hurdles over data security and privacy that are putting a damper on their shining moment. Read more: Cryptocurrency industry is spending more than any other to sway California congressional races Last week, Coinbase revealed it was hit with a cyberattack that could cost it $180 million to $400 million, according to a filing last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said that cybercriminals bribed customer support agents overseas to steal data from its customers so they could trick Coinbase users into handing over their crypto. The criminals obtained information such as names, phone numbers, emails, the last four digits of people's Social Security numbers and other valuable data for less than 1% of its users. Coinbase has refused to pay a $20-million ransom demand by hackers. Instead, it is offering a reward for that amount to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible. The cyberattack isn't the only problem Coinbase is still tackling. The New York Times first reported that the SEC is also investigating Coinbase, which says it has more than 100 million verified users, over whether the company misstated that figure. And Coinbase is facing a lawsuit in Illinois over whether it illegally collected, stored and kept biometric data, such as the face scans users provided for identity verification. Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal said in a statement that the SEC's inquiry was a "holdover" from the Biden administration and involved a metric the company no longer uses. "While we strongly believe this investigation should not continue, we remain committed to working with the SEC to bring this matter to a close," Grewal said. Wall Street has not been rattled by the controversy around the company. Coinbase's stock surged 24% when it announced last week that it would join the S&P 500. On Monday, the company's shares closed $263.99 per share, virtually unchanged. Mark Palmer, an tech industry analyst for Benchmark Equity Research, said in a note that while the data breach is concerning, it appears to be an "one-off event rather than a symptom of more pervasive security issues." The firm views the SEC investigation "as little more than noise that is highly unlikely to have any material impact on any of the drivers of the bullish thesis on the company's stock," Palmer wrote in the note. Coinbase's first quarter revenue reached $2.03 billion, up 24% year-over-year, but slightly missed analyst's expectations. The company's net income was $66 million down, from $1.8 billion during the same period last year. Sign up for our Wide Shot newsletter to get the latest entertainment business news, analysis and insights. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
19-05-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
After rocky week, Coinbase becomes first crypto exchange to join the S&P 500
Coinbase on Monday became the first cryptocurrency exchange to join the Standard & Poor's 500 index, marking a pivotal moment for the digital assets industry. The inclusion on the S&P 500 also was a point of pride for Coinbase, which consumers use to buy, sell, transfer and store various cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. The S&P 500 tracks the stock performance of 500 leading publicly traded companies in the United States. 'This milestone represents what the true believers, from retail investors to institutional investors to our employees and partners, knew all along. Crypto is here to stay,' said Coinbase Chief Executive Brian Armstrong in a post on the social media platform X. Coinbase first made its public debut in 2021, when it listed its shares on the Nasdaq. Initially based in San Francisco, Coinbase became a remote-first company and isn't headquartered in one city. The move comes as the Trump administration bolsters an industry that backed the Republican president's return to the White House. While cryptocurrency companies expect to face a more friendly regulatory environment under Trump, who also launched his own meme coin, they're still encountering familiar hurdles over data security and privacy that are putting a damper on their shining moment. Last week, Coinbase revealed it was hit with a cyberattack that could cost it $180 million to $400 million, according to a filing last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said that cybercriminals bribed customer support agents overseas to steal data from its customers so they could trick Coinbase users into handing over their crypto. The criminals obtained information such as names, phone numbers, emails, the last four digits of people's Social Security numbers and other valuable data for less than 1% of its users. Coinbase has refused to pay a $20-million ransom demand by hackers. Instead, it is offering a reward for that amount to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible. The cyberattack isn't the only problem Coinbase is still tackling. The New York Times first reported that the SEC is also investigating Coinbase, which says it has more than 100 million verified users, over whether the company misstated those figures. And Coinbase is facing a lawsuit in Illinois over whether it illegally collected, stored and kept biometric data, such as the face scans users provided for identity verification. Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal said in a statement that the SEC's inquiry was a 'holdover' from the Biden administration and involved a metric the company no longer uses. 'While we strongly believe this investigation should not continue, we remain committed to working with the SEC to bring this matter to a close,' Grewal said. Wall Street has not been rattled by the controversy around the company. Coinbase's stock surged 24% when it announced last week it would join the S&P 500. On Monday, the company's shares closed $263.99 per share, virtually unchanged. Mark Palmer, an tech industry analyst for Benchmark Equity Research, said in a note that while the data breach is concerning, it appears to be an 'one-off event than a symptom of more pervasive security issues.' The firm views the SEC investigation 'as little more than noise that is highly unlikely to have any material impact on any of the drivers of the bullish thesis on the company's stock,' Palmer wrote in the note. Coinbase's first quarter revenue reached $2.03 billion, up 24% year-over-year, but slightly missed analyst's expectations. The company's net income was $66 million down, from $1.8 billion during the same period last year.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Coinbase stock officially joins S&P 500, cementing milestone for company and crypto industry
Coinbase (COIN) on Monday became the first and only cryptocurrency platform to see its shares join the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) index, a milestone crypto bulls cheered during what became a busy week of developments for the company. Coinbase stock was down 1% shortly after Monday's open; shares are up more than 25% since news broke a week ago the company would join the index. "Coinbase joining the S&P 500 means crypto's here to stay," Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong told Yahoo Finance last Wednesday. "It's going to be in everybody's 401k. Everyone's going to have crypto exposure, you know, at least indirectly through Coinbase, which is great. And it's also a symbol that crypto is updating the financial system," he added. But the news for Coinbase last week wasn't all positive, as the company disclosed a cyberattack that had compromised customer data. Remediating the incident is expected to cost the company between $180 million and $400 million. Coinbase said no login credentials or passwords were compromised. Separately, Coinbase confirmed a report from the New York Times that the Securities and Exchange Commission still has an open investigation into whether Coinbase misreported user data years ago. Enthusiasm for the stock cooled last Thursday following the news, falling 7%. Coinbase's chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, said the SEC matter was "a holdover investigation from the prior administration about a metric we stopped reporting two and a half years ago,' adding that "we remain committed to working with the SEC to bring this matter to a close." The company's inclusion comes with bitcoin (BTC-USD) hovering above $102,000 per token, its highest level since January. The cryptocurrency has rallied 37% since President Trump won the White House last year and put in place key figures to forge ahead with a token-friendly framework, a promise on which he campaigned. One of those moves included placing cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins at the helm of the SEC after Gary Gensler stepped down on Jan. 20. Under Gensler, the agency had charged Coinbase with operating as an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency. In late February, Coinbase announced the SEC had agreed to drop its enforcement case against the company. Coinbase stock jumped 24% last Tuesday as Coinbase bulls celebrated S&P's announcement the stock would join the S&P 500, viewing it as a broader tide shift for crypto under the Trump administration. "Coinbase has gone from being in an intense litigation with the SEC just a few months back (later dropped by the SEC under the Trump regime) to being the latest addition to S&P 500," Bernstein managing director Gautam Chhugani wrote last week. "This event symbolises the dramatic turnaround in fortunes for the crypto industry and its rising significance as the frontier of financial innovation." Coinbase shares rallied to all-time highs in December following Trump's election. The stock declined to pre-election levels in April as the overall market sank following Trump's tariff policy unveiling. Year to date, Coinbase shares are up more than 3%. "With the Trump Administration's aspiration to make America the 'crypto capital of the world', Coinbase remains the dominant platform (66% U.S market share) to ride the tailwinds," wrote Chhugani. Bernstein maintains a Buy rating on the stock with a $310 price target. Ines Ferre is a Senior Business Reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X at @ines_ferre. Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Crypto elite increasingly worried about their personal safety
Cryptocurrency executives and other investors with significant wealth from crypto holdings are getting more serious about personal security, according to stories this weekend in both the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. While cryptocurrencies have always created unique security risks, it seems there's a rising threat of violent abduction due to the growing value of Bitcoin, as well as new concerns after a recent Coinbase breach exposed customers' personal information. (Coinbase said the breach affected less than 1% of its customers.) For example, three masked men recently attempted to abduct the daughter and granddaughter of the CEO of French currency company Paymium, only to be driven off by the family's neighbors. Jethro Pijlman, who works for Amsterdam-based security and intelligence firm Infinite Risks International, told Bloomberg that his team is seeing 'more inquiries, more long-term clients, and more proactive requests from crypto investors who don't want to be caught off guard' and realize that 'intelligent security measures are part of the cost of doing business at this level.' Meanwhile, Coinbase revealed in a regulatory filing that it spent $6.2 million in personal security costs for its CEO Brian Armstrong last year — more than the combined security costs for the CEOs of JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and Nvidia. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at
