Coinbase Data Breach Bombshell: TaskUs Employees Pocketed $500K in Bribes, Court Filing Exposes

Another day, another crypto security scandal—but this one cuts deep into the very infrastructure trusted to protect user data.

Inside the Breach: How It Went Down

A bombshell legal filing just dropped, naming suspects in the Coinbase data hack and alleging that employees at TaskUs—a major outsourcing firm—took bribes totaling a cool half-million dollars. Forget sophisticated cyberattacks; sometimes the weakest link is human greed.

The Finance Angle: Because Of Course Money Talks

While regulators fret over 'consumer protection,' it's ironic how a traditional corporate vice—plain old bribery—still manages to wreak havoc in the 'decentralized' future. $500K might be small change in crypto terms, but the reputational damage? Priceless—and yet another reminder that in both TradFi and crypto, incentives always find a way to corrupt.

Stay vigilant, folks. The wolves aren’t just at the door—they’re on the payroll.

TaskUs Staff Allegedly Paid $200 a Photo to Leak Coinbase Data

According to the filing, TaskUs employees were paid $200 per picture to photograph customer information displayed on their computer screens. The complaint estimates that the bribes generated at least $500,000, a sum equivalent to the annual salaries of more than 100 employees in India.

Investigators identified one worker, Ashita Mishra, as joining the conspiracy as early as Sept. 2024. The filing says she stored personal data from more than 10,000 Coinbase customers on her phone and at times took up to 200 photos a day.

The documents describe a “hub-and-spoke” conspiracy in which Mishra and an accomplice directed smaller groups of TaskUs employees to collect and pass along Coinbase user records.

The filing claims that many participants were unaware of others’ involvement, allowing the operation to continue even if one individual was exposed.

Complaint Says TaskUs Tried to Silence Insiders Over Data Leak

TaskUs dismissed around 300 staff in January after discovering the scope of the breach. Plaintiffs allege the company attempted to silence insiders who raised concerns and even fired human resources personnel who began investigating.

Reuters previously reported that TaskUs staff used personal phones to capture screenshots of Coinbase accounts, exposing names, addresses, transaction logs and bank details. The new complaint characterizes the scheme as “a far broader and coordinated criminal campaign” than TaskUs has admitted publicly.

@Coinbase has disclosed a data breach involving a small subset of customer information.#Coinbase #DataBreach https://t.co/qfBEmf3Cc0

The plaintiffs also accuse TaskUs of delaying disclosure. They argue that Coinbase knew about the leak in January. However, the company only went public in May. By then, criminals had already stolen between $180m and $400m in customer assets.

Exchange Cut Ties With Overseas Agents Following Data Leak

Coinbase said it notified regulators and users as soon as it became aware of the breach and reimbursed affected customers.

In response, the company said it terminated the TaskUs personnel involved, cut ties with other overseas agents and implemented tighter controls. It has not publicly named the other foreign agents implicated.

The case exposes the risks of outsourcing critical customer functions in the crypto industry, where exchanges handle sensitive personal data alongside financial assets.

Analysts say the allegations, if proven, could reshape how exchanges manage offshore operations.

For TaskUs, the claims could prove damaging to its reputation as a trusted business process outsourcing provider.