Coinbase CEO announces first arrest in India over insider data breach: ‘More still to come’
Indian law enforcement has arrested a former Coinbase customer service agent in Hyderabad in connection with the exchange's data breach disclosed in May, CEO Brian Armstrong announced Thursday."We have zero tolerance for bad behavior and will continue to work with law enforcement to bring bad actors to justice," Armstrong wrote on X. "Another one down and more still to come."The breach, which began in Dec. 2024, involved cybercriminals bribing offshore customer service representatives to obtain user data including names, addresses, phone numbers, and government IDs. Coinbase disclosed in a filing with the Maine Attorney General's Office that 69,461 users were affected. The attackers demanded a $20 million ransom, which Coinbase refused, instead launching a matching bounty for information leading to arrests.A Fortune investigation traced the breach to agents at TaskUs, a Texas-based business process outsourcing firm with operations in India. TaskUs told Fortune that it identified two employees who were allegedly "recruited by a much broader, coordinated criminal campaign against [Coinbase] that also impacted a number of other providers servicing this client." Coinbase confirmed $307 million in breach-related expenses in its Q2 earnings report, covering remediation and customer reimbursements. The company faces a shareholder class action lawsuit over alleged delayed disclosure.The arrest comes one week after the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office indicted Ronald Spektor, 23, on 31 counts for allegedly stealing $16 million from approximately 100 Coinbase users through a separate phishing scheme. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT contributed to identifying the suspect.Coinbase shares fell about 1.2% to $236.90 on Friday, per The Block's Coinbase stock price page. Indian law enforcement has not made a public statement regarding the arrest.Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.