Coinbase to share data of current/former customers with marketers in a couple days, and they aren’t respecting opt-outs

Coinbase notified their customers on 12/23/22 that they would be sharing/selling user data in 30 days for, among other things, marketing purposes. According to this notice, this includes both active and former customers.

“When you are no longer our customer, we continue to share your information as described in this notice. However, you can contact us at any time to limit our sharing.”

Thankfully, US financial law allows users to opt out of financial data sharing for marketing purposes under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. However, despite my many repeated requests over the past month, Coinbase has continually dodged, delayed, and dropped my opt out requests.

I have contacted them a ridiculous number of times (~19 I think), filed a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and even closed my account in protest, but they still won’t agree to limit data sharing with marketers.

Now the 30 day anniversary is coming up and they’ll be sharing my data (and everyone else who ever used their service). Coinbase will try to tell you they only share data with marketers with your consent, but they consider “consent” as anyone who hasn’t opted out… and they ignore opt outs.