Cryptocurrency giant Coinbase is facing significant challenges that have caused its stock to drop ahead of its inclusion in the S&P 500 index next week.
Shares fell over 7% to $244.44 on Friday morning following news of a customer data breach and an ongoing SEC investigation.
The San Francisco-based exchange disclosed that fraudsters had bribed overseas customer service staff to steal private user data, affecting less than 1% of its daily users. The hackers then demanded a $20 million ransom to prevent public disclosure of the hack.
“These attackers exploited our overseas support agents, looking for someone susceptible to bribery to leak customer information,” said Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong in a video message. “Unfortunately, they succeeded with a few individuals.”
