FTX Hands Up, Submit Customer Transaction Data To The FBI

FTX, a crypto exchange experiencing bankruptcy, reportedly submitted consumer data to the FBI. (Photo; Doc. Coingeek)

JAKARTA - FTX, a crypto exchange that has filed for bankruptcy, was forced to provide transaction data and customer information to the FBI. This was revealed from documents submitted by FTX bankruptcy consultant Alvarez & Marsal.

These documents show that a number of FBI branch offices have sent subpoenas to FTX to request specific data relating to their investigations. For information only, the subpoena is an official warrant asking someone or organization to provide information or evidence to courts or other authorities.

However, these documents provide no details on the objectives and targets of the FBI's investigation. There is only a brief description such as "analyzing the special transactions requested by the Philadelphia FBI for specific customers" or "Extraction of transaction information and customers related to certain transaction hash" from a Portland FBI subpoena.

In a note requesting data submitted in September, the Philadelphia FBI sent a Grand Jury subpoena seeking "investigation of activities related to certain individuals." Grand Jury is the agency in charge of determining whether there is sufficient evidence to file charges against a person or organization.

On October 31, there were only two requests from the FBI office. One of them is related to the FBI Submarine subpoena seeking transaction data information, and the other from the Philadelphia FBI who requested "data on transactions from AWS related to certain device IDs." AWS stands for Amazon Web Services, a cloud computing service provider.

FTX has tried to maintain the confidentiality of the names of its customers from the public. In June, they obtained permission from US Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey to remove the names of customers from the documents.

The reason is, if the names are leaked, former FTX customers could become victims of fraud and identity theft. However, this permit does not apply to federal officials who have the authority to request FTX customer data.

FTX is not the first crypto exchange to be asked for customer data by authorities. In May, a US court ruled that the Internal Revenue Service, a US tax agency, could access Coinbase user trading data, the largest crypto exchange in the US. This is done to pursue tax evasion by crypto traders.