TechCrunch founder: Coinbase data breach may pose a threat to user safety

Michael Arrington, founder of TechCrunch, has said that the recent data breach at Coinbase could pose a serious threat to users' personal safety. He noted that the leaked information included users' home addresses and account balances, which could make high net worth cryptocurrency holders the target of criminal acts such as kidnapping. Arrington stressed that regulators should reassess mandatory KYC (know your customer) data collection policies and called for criminal accountability for executives who fail to properly protect customer information. Balaji Srinivasan, a former Coinbase CTO, also pointed out that state-mandated KYC data collection could be the root cause of such risks.
Coinbase previously disclosed that hackers tried to extort $20 million in bitcoin after overseas customer service staff took bribes to leak user data. The company refused to pay and offered a reward of the same amount to hunt down the criminals, while promising to compensate affected users. The Department of Justice has launched an investigation into this. Former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan pointed out that the fundamental problem is the government-mandated KYC data collection system.