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Exchange profiles

Coinbase

Coinbase is a US exchange founded in 2012 and listed on Nasdaq. It has served Australians since 2016 and set up Coinbase Australia Pty Ltd in 2022. In May 2025 it disclosed that bribed overseas support contractors had copied customer data, and it refused a US$20 million ransom.

Checked 31 October 2026. Each fact links to its source. General information, not a recommendation.

At a glance

Founded
June 2012 in San Francisco, by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam (Wikipedia: Coinbase)
Based in
No head office: Coinbase says it's remote-first. Its Australian company is registered in Sydney (Coinbase quarterly report to the SEC, Sep 2026 · Coinbase Australia user agreement)
Australian operator
Coinbase Australia Pty Ltd, ACN 654 922 442 (Coinbase Australia user agreement)
Owned by
Coinbase Global, Inc. (US, listed on Nasdaq) (Coinbase quarterly report to the SEC, Sep 2026)
AUSTRAC
Registered, number DCE100784914-001 (Coinbase's own statement) (Coinbase Australia user agreement)
ASIC licence
An Australian financial services licence granted in April 2026, including retail derivatives (licence number not found) (The Block, Apr 2026)
Trading fee
Simple buys include a spread plus a fee that varies; Coinbase Advanced uses maker-taker fees by volume. Its fee table needs a sign-in (Coinbase Help: Fees (Australia))
AUD deposits
PayID, with no Coinbase fee (Coinbase Australia home page)
Coins
200+ (its own figure) (Coinbase Australia home page)
Proof of reserves
No Merkle-tree proof of reserves; Coinbase points to the quarterly financial statements it publishes as a listed company (Coinbase Australia home page)
24-hour trading volume
Not available right now

Security record

  1. · Outage

    Hours-long trading disruption during an Amazon Web Services failure

    Rising temperatures in an Amazon Web Services region in the eastern US took down systems Coinbase relies on, disrupting trading for several hours.

    Sources: CoinDesk

  2. · Customer data exposed

    Bribed support contractors copied customer data; US$20 million ransom refused

    Criminals paid overseas support contractors to copy data from Coinbase's support tools: names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, partly masked ID and bank numbers, ID images and balances, for under 1% of monthly transacting users. No passwords, private keys or funds were exposed.

    Outcome: Coinbase refused to pay and said it would reimburse retail customers tricked into sending funds to the scammers who used the data.

    Sources: CyberInsider · Express Tribune

  3. · Funds stolen

    About 6,000 accounts drained through an SMS recovery flaw

    Between March and May 2021, attackers who already had customers' login details used a flaw in Coinbase's SMS account recovery to get past two-factor checks and empty about 6,000 accounts.

    Outcome: Coinbase fixed the flaw and said it would repay customers the full value lost.

    Sources: BleepingComputer

Regulation and legal action

  1. Ireland: €3.25 million fine over safeguarding client money (overseas)

    The Central Bank of Ireland fined Coinbase Ireland Ltd over how it safeguarded client funds.

    Outcome: €3.25 million fine, subject to confirmation by the High Court.

    Sources: Paperjam, Oct 2026

  2. Ireland: €21.5 million fine over transaction monitoring (overseas)

    Coinbase Europe admitted it didn't properly monitor more than 30 million transactions between April 2021 and March 2025.

    Outcome: €21,464,734 fine, confirmed by the High Court in January 2026.

    Sources: Central Bank of Ireland

  3. UK: about £3.5 million fine (overseas)

    The Financial Conduct Authority fined Coinbase's UK e-money company for repeatedly breaching an agreement not to take on high-risk customers.

    Outcome: About £3.5 million fine.

    Sources: The Block

  4. US SEC lawsuit, later dismissed (US parent)

    The SEC alleged Coinbase ran an unregistered exchange, broker and clearing agency and sold staking without registering it.

    Outcome: Dismissed with prejudice in February 2025, with no penalty.

    Sources: NYU SEED database

  5. New York: US$50 million penalty over customer checks (US parent)

    New York's financial regulator found Coinbase's know-your-customer programme inadequate.

    Outcome: US$50 million penalty, plus US$50 million to be spent on compliance.

    Sources: New York Law Journal

  6. US CFTC: US$6.5 million penalty (US parent)

    The CFTC found Coinbase reported false or misleading trading information between 2015 and 2018, because two of its own trading programs traded with each other.

    Outcome: US$6.5 million civil penalty.

    Sources: CFTC press release 8369-21

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