Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, is facing another class – action lawsuit related to a data breach. Here are the details:
Lawsuit Filing Information: On May 22, 2025, Coinbase investor Brady Nessler filed a lawsuit in a Pennsylvania federal court. The lawsuit names Coinbase and two of its executives as defendants. The class – action lawsuit represents anyone who bought Coinbase stock between April 14, 2021, and May 14, 2025.
Claims in the Lawsuit
Data Breach – Caused Stock Drop: Nessler claims that the data breach disclosed by Coinbase on May 15 and the alleged violation of an agreement with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) led to a “precipitous decline in the market value of the company’s common shares,” causing significant losses and damages to stockholders. Coinbase’s stock price dropped by 7.2% to close at $244 on May 15 due to the data breach disclosure.
Concealment of UK Agreement Violation: The FCA fined Coinbase’s UK arm $4.5 million in July 2024 for breaching a 2020 voluntary agreement to prevent the exchange from onboarding high – risk customers. Nessler alleges that Coinbase did not disclose this violation when it first listed its shares on the Nasdaq in April 2021, leading to an “artificially inflated” market price of the company’s securities. Nessler claims that if she had known about the violation, she would not have purchased the stock at the inflated prices.
Previous Data Breach Incident: On May 11, 2025, Coinbase received a convincing message stating that the sender had internal materials of the company and information on some customer accounts. The leaked data included names, contact information, partial social security numbers, bank account identification information, government – issued ID photos, and certain company and account data. It is reported that cybercriminals bribed overseas customer service agents of Coinbase to steal customer data for social engineering attacks. Coinbase estimates that the total cost and customer compensation resulting from this incident could be between $180 million and $400 million.
This is not the first lawsuit Coinbase has faced regarding the data breach. In the days following the disclosure of the data breach, Coinbase was hit with at least six lawsuits, all accusing the company of mishandling the incident and failing to protect user data.
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