The U.S. government has asked the Supreme Court to avoid hearing a case from a Coinbase user named James Harper, who does not want the IRS to see his cryptocurrency trading records. On May 30, 2025, a government lawyer, D. John Sauer, said Harper cannot claim privacy rights under the Fourth Amendment because he shared his data with Coinbase willingly. The IRS got his records legally using a court-approved request.
Harper’s case started with a 2016 IRS investigation that found many Coinbase users were not reporting their crypto profits. At that time, Bitcoin was worth $103,447, and while millions were trading it on Coinbase, only a few reported their earnings to the IRS. Harper sued, saying the IRS should not have access to his records, but the government says they obeyed the rules.
The IRS used a special request called a “John Doe” summons to make Coinbase share information about users, like Harper, who traded a lot of cryptocurrency. Harper did not like this information and sued, saying the IRS was invading his privacy. But the lower courts said Coinbase’s records belong to the company, not Harper, so they are not his private stuff. The courts determined that the IRS had the right to act in this manner and had not violated any regulations.
As per the reports, the government cited past cases, referencing United States v. Miller, to argue that individuals lack privacy rights over third-party financial records. They also highlighted Coinbase’s privacy policy, which warns users that data may be shared with law enforcement. The Supreme Court has yet to decide if it will take Harper’s case; a refusal would uphold the First Circuit’s ruling favoring the IRS.
On May 15, 2025, Coinbase, a big cryptocurrency platform, revealed that hackers paid some of its support staff in India to steal its users’ information, like names and trading records. The breach affected about 1% of its active users, including a well-known investor, Roelof Botha from Sequoia Capital. This situation led to the filing of six lawsuits against Coinbase on May 15 and 16.
People who sued said Coinbase did not have good enough security, and the exchange did not handle the problem well. This situation raises a question about the security of people’s information in the crypto world.
Also Read: How Teen Hackers Used an Indian Call Center to Breach Coinbase
