- A PR firm executive speaking “on behalf of Coinbase” reiterated that the leading crypto platform’s system wasn’t breached.
- She dismissed all claims blaming the company as “unverified.”
A third-party data leak affecting customers has recently put Coinbase in a bad light within the crypto community. In response to my report on the matter, a PR team related to the leading global exchange contacted Blockzeit to clarify several issues thrown at it.
What Happened
Coinbase Support took it to social media on Wednesday to clarify that Coinbase’s system wasn’t compromised, amid several customers complaining about being on the receiving end of phishing attempts. The company highlighted that the security incident impacting “a small subset of Coinbase customer contact data” stemmed from a data leak at analytics vendor Amplitude.
However, several people, some claiming to be customers of the platform, weren’t buying it. Many argued that Coinbase should be held accountable for the incident as it allegedly willingly shared sensitive customer data with a third-party entity in the first place.
I ran the report based on Coinbase Support’s statements and the community’s overwhelming feedback.
Related Article: Coinbase Says It Wasn’t Breached Amid Customer Data Leak
PR Firm Tells Coinbase’s Side of the Story
On the same day that I ran the story, an executive from a US-based PR firm reached out to Blockzeit “on behalf of Coinbase.” She emphasized that “some of the surrounding language” in the report “could leave readers with the impression that the platform itself experienced a breach.”
The exec reiterated Coinbase Support’s official statement that the incident occurred at Amplitude, a third-party analytics vendor. Hence, I take it as an indication that the issue was outside the company’s supervision or control.
Additionally, the PR firm’s representative emphasized that claims about exposed customer data are unverified. Therefore, she requested Blockzeit to “clarify the language about exposed customer data.” Likewise, the exec wanted the article revised to “make it clear that Coinbase itself did not experience a breach.”
By far, the purported user complaints and the numerous negative feedback directed at Coinbase seem indeed unsubstantiated, thus warranting a shadow of a doubt about their veracity. With that, I never presented any of that as verified claims and merely cited what the crypto community and people identifying themselves as Coinbase customers were saying.
If my blow-by-blow reporting suggests otherwise, I own up to any mistake and want to clarify that Coinbase attributed the data leak solely to Amplitude, a third-party entity, not to the crypto exchange’s infrastructure. Most importantly, all user credentials and funds are reportedly safe amid the controversy.
Meanwhile, Amplitude remains silent regarding the subject. Its socials, blog, and other searchable official channels haven’t addressed the latest data breach yet.
