Ex-Coinbase employee arrested in India over $400m heist

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said on Friday that an ex-employee of the crypto exchange has been arrested in India, months after hackers stole customer data and demanded $20 million in ransom for its return.

The hack — which happened in May — saw Coinbase support agents bribed by criminals to release customer information such as home addresses, bank details and user ID photos.

Hackers then demanded the American crypto exchange pay $20 million to get the sensitive data back. No customer funds were stolen in the heist, and Coinbase refused to pay the ransom.

“We have zero tolerance for bad behavior and will continue to work with law enforcement to bring bad actors to justice,” Armstrong wrote Friday on X.

“Thanks to the Hyderabad Police in India, an ex-Coinbase customer service agent was just arrested. Another one down and more still to come.”

The May hack showed that even top, trusted companies like Coinbase, which is the biggest crypto exchange in the US, are not immune to cyber attacks.

Coinbase, which went public in 2021, said in May that the incident would cost the company up to $400 million to remedy, making it one of 2025’s biggest crypto exploits.

A legal filing showed that almost 70,000 users had their data compromised in December and the breach wasn’t discovered until May 11.

Crypto industry observers later said that the incident highlighted serious issues in how Coinbase vets employees. Still, no private keys or customer funds were taken in the incident and Coinbase has never been directly hacked.

Mathew Di Salvo is a news correspondent with DL News. Got a tip? Email at mdisalvo@dlnews.com.