According to a statement released today by the crypto exchange, a small group of external attackers managed to gain unauthorized access to internal systems by colluding with third-party support agents. The breach enabled them to extract limited user account data from a small portion of the platform’s customer base.
Cyber criminals bribed and recruited rogue overseas support agents to pull personal data on <1% of Coinbase MTUs. No passwords, private keys, or funds were exposed. Prime accounts are untouched. We will reimburse impacted customers. More here: https://t.co/SidVn59JCV
— Coinbase 🛡️ (@coinbase) May 15, 2025
The company emphasized that no sensitive credentials—such as passwords, private keys, or funds—were accessed, and accounts under Coinbase Prime remained unaffected. The compromised data involved less than 1% of the exchange’s monthly transacting users.
Once the attackers secured the stolen data, they reportedly demanded $20 million from Coinbase in exchange for not publicizing the incident. The exchange, however, rejected the demand outright.
In a bold countermeasure, Coinbase has instead offered a $20 million reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of those behind the breach.
The incident also sheds light on a growing tactic among scammers: exploiting the reputation of trusted brands. Coinbase noted that it was the most impersonated crypto brand by scammers throughout 2024.
On May 8, Onchain investigator and well-known security analyst ZachXBT uncovered an additional $45 million siphoned from Coinbase users in just the past week, spotlighting an escalating wave of social engineering scams that continues to hit the U.S.-based crypto exchange harder than any of its peers.
The new $45 million figure pushes the estimated annual loss from such scams targeting Coinbase customers to a staggering $330 million. These attacks often involve fraudsters impersonating Coinbase support staff or using elaborate phishing techniques to trick users into giving up account access.
In recent news, Coinbase is set to officially join the S&P 500 index on May 19, becoming the first cryptocurrency-focused company to secure a spot in the prestigious benchmark.
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