hack or exploit

Ari Paul alleges Coinbase lost $25M of BlockTower funds in a security cover-up

5Importance
closedStatus
3News media
3Pieces
Published
Updated
Since then
3 new reports

Ari Paul alleged that Coinbase lost $25 million belonging to BlockTower years ago and that the matter sits in ongoing legal proceedings. He also said more than a dozen firms were affected by a broader hacking cover-up claim that he tied to over $1 billion in losses, while Coinbase denied hiding hacks or losing $1 billion. The dispute is still unresolved.

Key claims & sources

✓
Paul also alleged a wider cover-up involving more than a dozen firms and over $1 billion in alleged hacks.
✓
Ari Paul said Coinbase lost $25 million belonging to BlockTower several years ago.
✓
He said the dispute remains tied to multiple legal proceedings.
✓
Paul said at least 12 firms were affected by the alleged cover-up.
✓
Coinbase denied hiding hacks or losing $1 billion.

What it means

BlockTower and other firms named in the allegations are the ones that would notice this first, because the claim is about funds and hacks tied to their assets and records. The dispute is not described as closed, and Paul said it is still part of ongoing legal proceedings, so those firms remain in a live conflict over what happened to the money and who should account for it.

In practice, the dispute changes what can be said publicly about the missing funds and the alleged hacks, because Paul has put both the $25 million BlockTower claim and the broader $1 billion allegation on the record. What stays the same is that Coinbase has denied hiding hacks or losing $1 billion, so the public statements remain directly opposed rather than resolved.

Market reaction i

Total crypto marketall crypto assets combined no single asset in the event: read against the whole market
first headline
-0.1% 2 h before
+1.0% 4 h after
$2.9Tmarket cap at publication
11data points

Coverage timeline

Every piece in order, with the time its news medium declares — if it is not believable we use ours and say so — and what it added to what was already known at that point. Arriving first is not the same as adding something.

first
Sep 29 05:14
+8 h 14 m
Sep 29 13:28
Protos adds
Adds $1B and $100M, with quotes
+16 h 34 m
Sep 29 21:49
CP CryptoPotato adds
Adds $1.2M, with quotes

Thefts of a similar size

WhenWhat happenedFigure
7.1 years ago WOTOKEN · Ponzi incident $1.1B
9.3 years ago BTC-e incident $990M
10.3 years ago Bitfinex · Wallet stolen incident $900M
7.5 years ago Bitfinex · Scam incident $851M
6.3 years ago BitClub · Ponzi incident $722M

4282 incidents stored · 10 were as large as this one or larger ($1B)