After buying firm run by HackingTeam vets, Coinbase CEO has some regrets

After a wave of protest from the cryptocurrency community, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced in a blog post on Monday that some of the leadership of a recently acquired blockchain analytics firm would "transition out of Coinbase." The reason for the outcry: those executives were former employees of HackingTeam, the Italian company that provides offensive hacking tools to law enforcement and intelligence organizations—including those of Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and other countries with poor human rights records. While we looked hard at the technology and security of the Neutrino product, we did not properly evaluate everything from the perspective of our mission and values as a crypto company."As a result of a review of the impact of the acquisition, Armstrong said that Coinbase's executives "together with the Neutrino team have come to an agreement: those who previously worked at Hacking Team (despite the fact that they have no current affiliation with Hacking Team), will transition out of Coinbase."You must login or create an account to comment.Join the Ars Orbital Transmission mailing list to get weekly updates delivered to your inbox.