Major Cryptocurrency Exchanges Obliged to Disclose User Data

Six exchanges — including Binance, Coinbase, Luno, and Kraken — will have to share customer data to help track down $ 10.7 million stolen from an anonymous exchange in the UK back in 2020. According to the Financial Times, the Supreme Court of London has issued a court order requiring crypto exchanges to hand over data.

However, two of the six companies involved remained anonymous. One of the exchanges, which does not disclose its name in order to «not give hackers any clues,» has so far managed to track down $ 1.7 million stolen in the hack. The full amount lost was withdrawn by the hackers to 26 crypto accounts, and it is known that the assets are stored in BTC, XRP, ETH, and USDT.

The precedent of leading cryptocurrency exchanges working with state law enforcement agencies is one of the first applications of the new law in the UK, which helps to trace assets in cases of cyber fraud. The legislation works even if the companies storing the information are located abroad.

Crypto fraud in Foggy Albion is thriving even despite the market downturn. From September 2021 to September 2022, cases of cryptocurrency scams increased by a third compared to last year’s figures, according to the British cyber police unit Action Fraud.

As a reminder, back in September, British officials planned to expand the powers of the authorities to combat cryptocurrency crimes. The lawmakers called on parliamentarians to consider a bill to eliminate «privacy concerns» and empower law enforcement agencies to «force businesses to hand over information that may be related to money laundering or terrorist financing using crypto assets.» In the course of investigating economic crimes, law enforcement agencies will also be free from bureaucratic red tape to ensure confidentiality of information.