Coinbase exec: no, we weren't involved with seizing Bitcoin for FBI

Coinbase Chief Security Officer Philip Martin says crypto exchange didn't work with FBI to recover Colonial Pipeline crypto ransom.

Published
Updated
1 minute & 41 seconds read time

In one of the most stupid things to have been an "accident", the private keys of sophisticated hax0r group DarkSide were left on a cloud server... the private keys to their $4.5 million in Bitcoin it was paid by Colonial Pipeline CEO in a ransomware attack that took down a huge percentage of US Southeast fuel supplies... so the FBI secured them, and didn't need the help of Coinbase.

Or at least, that's what authorities, the FBI, the US Department of Justice, and mainstream media are telling us. Well, I'm not biased and I'm not paid to say a single word that isn't from my own independent thought -- and this story smells like horse sh*t.

The FBI says that they recovered most of the millions of dollars paid in ransomware, but how in the hell did they get the private keys that gave them access to the wallets where DarkSide hackers "hid" their Bitcoin? Just how did they do that?

Coinbase Chief Security Officer (CEO) Philip Martin took to his personal Twitter to explain the situation, saying that Coinbase wasn't involved in helping the DOJ or FBI secure the seized Bitcoin from the recent Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack. He simply said "We weren't" and has a thread on Twitter all about it.

Martin quipped: "So how did they get the private key? Maybe some whiz-bang magic, but my guess would be it was some good ol' fashioned police work to locate the target servers, and an MLAT request and/or some political pressure to get access".

Coinbase exec: no, we weren't involved with seizing Bitcoin for FBI 05
Buy at Amazon

Mr. Robot

TodayYesterday7 days ago30 days ago
$23.99$23.99$23.99
* Prices last scanned on 3/28/2024 at 9:09 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission.

Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

Newsletter Subscription

Related Tags