Cryptocurrency exchange COINBASE will provide its analytical software for tracking transactions on the blockchain to the us Secret service, according to data from the portal usaspending.gov.
The Federal Agency reports to the US Department of homeland security. In addition to protecting senior officials, it is responsible for investigating various types of financial crimes.
The secret service has signed a four-year contract to use SOFTWARE called Coinbase Analytics. The contract is worth $183,750 and expires on may 9, 2024.
the contract information on state portal .Source: usaspending.gov
Previously, other us Federal agencies — the drug enforcement Administration (DEA) and the internal Revenue service (IRS) - were interested in analytical SOFTWARE for Coinbase.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong explained that initially the exchange used third-party analytical SOFTWARE, but did not want to further share data with a third party. Such services are used by exchanges everywhere to comply with AML rules and use public data, Armstrong said.
The company created Coinbase Analytics through a takeover in 2019 of the startup Neutrino, which had a scandalous reputation. The head of Coinbase admitted that the deal went "not very well" and they had to fire some members of the startup's team.
He explained the contract with the Secret service as a need to reimburse the cost of acquisition and the opportunity to improve relations with law enforcement.
According to the Block analyst Larry Cermak, the latter reason is the main one, given the desire of Coinbase to conduct a public offering of shares. The expert considers the contract amount to be extremely low. It is inappropriate to talk about compensation for the cost of purchasing Neutrino ($13.5 million) with $183 thousand received over four years, he believes. Rather, it is the cost of the basic budget for lobbying for a listing, Cermak added.
Recall that Coinbase, along with BINANCE and Kraken, is a leader in mergers and acquisitions in the bitcoin industry.
