BlockTower Capital founder Ari Paul has alleged that Coinbase “lost” $25 million belonging to his firm several years ago and later covered up a series of hacks that affected other companies.
The claim, posted on September 29, puts a much larger alleged loss at the center of an unresolved dispute that Paul says remains tied to multiple legal proceedings.
Ari Paul Alleges Wider Coinbase Losses
Paul wrote that his firm’s $25 million loss was initially described as Coinbase having “lost” the funds, but his subsequent investigation led him to a different conclusion. He alleged that the exchange had been covering up “massive and repeated hacks” and refused to return BlockTower’s money.
“We traced this to at least a dozen other affected firms and over $1b covered up,” the Strobe VC board member added. “That’s all I can say for now as multiple legal processes still ongoing.”
Coinbase Support replied on X that it had sent a direct message to Paul “so we can look into this right now.” The whole thing started with a user called Kuno, who wrote on September 26 that Coinbase “stole” $1.2 million from them a year earlier.
They claimed they had opened more than 30 support tickets and gave the exchange 24 hours to act, or they would post a Google Meet recording between them and pursue legal action.
With the 24 hours having passed, they have not indicated whether they have taken the action they threatened or whether the exchange reached out to them.
But Coinbase product head Jordan Fish, known as Cobie on X, had responded to Kuno’s claims in the same thread, saying that no account matching that description could be found. He suggested the post may have been engagement bait to promote a meme token.
Other Security Incidents
Coinbase disclosed in May 2025 that a breach hit at least 69,400 users. The attacker bribed customer support staff to gain internal access, and the campaign ran from December 2024 until it was discovered in May.
The exposed data included identities, contact details, balances, and transaction histories. Coinbase says it turned down a $20 million ransom demand to delete the stolen data, but the hacker later converted tens of millions in stolen ETH into DAI, while taunting renowned on-chain investigator ZachXBT with a meme.
There have been other support-impersonation schemes targeting Coinbase users, with ZachXBT accusing Tiffany Milanovich in August of involvement in at least $5 million in thefts, including a $500,000 drain of a Coinbase account in October 2025.
Those documented incidents provide context for the broader security concerns around the exchange, but they do not establish Paul’s allegation that Coinbase covered up more than $1 billion in losses. His claims remain subject to the legal processes he referenced.
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