US-based crypto exchange Coinbase is revealing that it received thousands of requests from law enforcement and government agencies this year.
Coinbase says in a new transparency report that requests from law enforcement and government agencies around the world rose by 66% from the fourth quarter of 2021 to 12,320 in the third quarter of 2022.
Over 95% of the requests were related to “criminal enforcement matters” while less than 5% were civil or administrative in nature.
“As in years past, the overwhelming majority of requests we received both globally and in the US were from law enforcement agencies in connection with criminal enforcement matters.”
The crypto exchange says that the highest number of requests came from the United States while nearly two dozen countries submitted requests for the first time in 2022.
“The ~57% of requests from outside of the United States was a ~6% increase over our previous report. In addition, 21 Countries sent requests for the first time in 2022, including 11 that sent more than one: Andorra (2), Argentina (2), Brazil (5), Bulgaria (3), China (12), Croatia (3), Czech Republic (104), Liechtenstein (4), Serbia (5), Slovakia (6), Taiwan (6).”
The overwhelming number of law enforcement and agency requests that Coinbase received came from the US, the UK, Germany and Spain.
Nine European countries ranked among the top-ten countries enjoying the highest year-over-year increase in the number of law enforcement and agency requests it made to Coinbase this year.
“Six countries increased their number of law enforcement and agency requests by over 100%: Spain (+940%), Belgium (+400%), Italy (+281%), Netherlands (+163%), Austria (+141%), and Ireland (+118%).”
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