IRS May not Get as Much Customer Data From Coinbase as Requested

the IRS intends to lessen the amount of customer data it originally wanted to siphon from Coinbase. Ongoing negotiations between Coinbase and the IRS have yielded concessions on part of the IRS legal team. A trial attorney for the Department of Justice, Amy Matchison, recently said the IRS would narrow their specific data request from Coinbase.

Matchison came to this consideration as a result of several anonymous Coinbase users who decided to fight back
against the IRS. These users came to vouch for themselves as well as Coinbase. They want to intervene and oppose government action against Coinbase users. They argued that an unnecessary and over-broad information grab would result in undue harm to many people.

An article from the Recorder clarified:

“Coinbase account holders were seeking to intervene in the matter to oppose the government’s request for the information. Lee Weiss of Berns Weiss, who represents two John Doe account holders, argued that his clients have interests that are distinct from Coinbase’s and that it’s their information that’s at stake.”
IRS Loses Private Documents, Gets Hacked Too Easily

In a June 22 “Motion to Intervene” court document, the plaintiffs mentioned that all the excess personal information requested by the IRS could easily be retrieved by hackers. This would compromise personal account information from Coinbase users. The document cited the IRS has not been careful with other people’s documents, and they lose sensitive information to nefarious entities too often.