The COINBASE cryptocurrency exchange will provide its analytical software for tracking transactions on the blockchain to the US Secret Service, data from the usaspending.gov portal indicate .
The federal agency reports to the US Department of Homeland Security. His duties, in addition to protecting senior officials, include the investigation of various kinds of financial crimes.
The Secret Service has entered into a four-year software contract called Coinbase Analytics. The amount of the contract is $ 183,750; it expires on May 9, 2024.
Data on the contract at the hospital portal. Source: usaspending.gov
Earlier, Coinbase analytical software was interested in other US federal agencies - the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong explained that the exchange initially used third-party analytic software, but did not want to further share data with a third party. Similar services are used by exchanges everywhere to comply with AML rules and use public data, said Armstrong.
The company created the creation of Coinbase Analytics through the takeover of the startup Neutrino in 2019, 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 team.
He explained the contract with the Secret Service as the need to reimburse the acquisition costs and the opportunity to improve relations with law enforcement.
According to The Block analyst Larry Chermak, precisely the last 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 the compensation of expenses for the purchase of Neutrino ($ 13.5 million) received over four years by $ 183 thousand, he believes. Rather, it’s the cost of a basic budget for lobbying listing, Chermak added.
Recall that Coinbase, along with BINANCE and Kraken, is a leader in the field of mergers and acquisitions in the bitcoin industry.
