The campaign with the hashtag #DeleteCoinbase, launched by cryptocurrency enthusiasts against the popular American stock exchange, is gaining momentum in the network.
Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange has long been suspicious and discontent of many community members, who claim that the company’s management does not share their interests and values. The last straw was the purchase by the stock exchange of an Italian startup Neutrino, which is developing solutions for tracking transactions in blockchains.
Although Coinbase representatives claim that a start-up technology is necessary for a company to combat illegal activities and create a safer and more accessible ecosystem, it is worth noting that Neutrino’s developments are rather specific.
According to analyst Arjun Balaji and the Breaker portal, many members of the Neutrino team were formerly heads of the Italian surveillance solution provider Hacking Team, which served repressive regimes in various countries. The tools provided by the company were used to harass journalists, political dissidents and activists.
Neutrino CEO Giancarlo Russo is the former chief operating officer of the Hacking Team. Neutrino Technical Director Alberto Ornaga (Alberto Ornaghi) worked for more than eight years at the Hacking Team before moving to a startup Coinbase bought. Another Neutrino executive Marco Valleri (Marco Valleri) has been part of the Hacking Team since 2004.
“I deleted an account that was registered 6 years ago. Attracting the Hacking Team was the last straw, ” - writes one of Twitter users.
In addition, over the past month, Coinbase has been involved in at least two more ambiguous episodes.
In early February, bitcoin was added to the Coinbase Wallet wallet, which was a long-awaited event for the community. However, a week later, company representatives reported that, for the convenience of users, the ability to back up private keys in cloud services will be implemented. The community accepted this news without much enthusiasm, and some representatives of the industry criticized the company for this step altogether, since it contradicts the recommendations for ensuring the security of cryptocurrency assets.
“How can you be so much mistaken about your target audience,” one Twitter user commented on the news.
“I always dreamed of storing my private keys on servers in China,” - another wrote ironically.
Reasons for criticism also appeared after the addition of XRP cryptocurrency on Coinbase Pro this Monday.
First, the stock exchange began to be accused of insider trading, as it was during the listing of Bitcoin Cash in 2017. Some Twitter users have noted an increase in trading volumes and the XRP rate for two and a half hours before the publication of the official announcement.
Secondly, a number of issues related to the XRP listing conditions hit the exchange. Many believe that they are contrary to the company's own policy. It is noted that, according to the rules of Coinbase, XRP developers do not have to control the lion’s share of the asset, and Ripple executives own almost 60% of the coins.
Among other things, some representatives of the community questioned that Coinbase leaders decided to support XRP free of charge, given that in 2017 the head of Ripple offered a loan of $ 100 million in its own cryptocurrency to the exchange for listing the asset on the platform.
At the moment it is difficult to predict what scale the boycott of the Coinbase Exchange will reach and what the consequences will be for the company and for the cryptocurrency industry. However, it is worth noting that at one time the #DeleteFacebook movement against a popular social network helped raise the scandal around Cambridge Analytica's data collection to a completely different level.
