Coinbase ordered to turn over Bitcoin users names

We all knew this was eventually coming, the IRS has gone after Coinbase (a popular Bitcoin exchange) and has won an order to have them turn over more than 14,000 users names and vital data. So while Bitcoin users thought they were safe from the tax man, they might be as safe as they were hoping. Not too surprising that the government wants their share. Motherboard has the story.

On Tuesday, a California federal court ordered the popular cryptocurrency exchange and wallet service Coinbase to turn over records on thousands of customers to the Internal Revenue Service.

The requested records include the name, birthdate, address, and account activity for any user who bought, sold, sent, or received more than $20,000 worth of Bitcoin in their accounts between 2013 and 2015.

The order marks the end of a year-long court battle between the IRS and Coinbase that began last November when the IRS sought user records for all Coinbase customers. After meeting resistance from Coinbase and Coinbase customers, who argued that the order was overly broad, the IRS narrowed the scope of its request to only cover Coinbase customers who had trafficked in more than $20,000 worth of cryptocurrency in the specified time period.