{"id":12702,"date":"2019-03-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crypto-economy.com\/2019\/03\/03\/bitcoin-btc-angry-bitcoiners-close-their-coinbase-accounts-in-protest-against-controversial-neutrino-acquisition\/"},"modified":"2019-03-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-03T00:00:00","slug":"bitcoin-btc-angry-bitcoiners-close-their-coinbase-accounts-in-protest-against-controversial-neutrino-acquisition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crypto-economy.com\/bitcoin-btc-angry-bitcoiners-close-their-coinbase-accounts-in-protest-against-controversial-neutrino-acquisition\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin [BTC] \u2013 Angry Bitcoiners Close Their Coinbase Accounts in Protest against Controversial Neutrino Acquisition"},"content":{"rendered":"
Following a controversial <\/span>acquisition<\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/strong> of the blockchain analytics startup Neutrino by leading American cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase<\/a><\/strong>, its users began deleting their accounts through the rallying cry #deletecoinbase on Twitter. <\/span>According<\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/strong> to these users, the acquisition of <\/span>Neutrino<\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/strong> signifies that the company condones questionable operation policies that could be going against the very beliefs by which most blockchain enthusiasts live including breach of privacy and security. The founders and C-suite of Neutrino, CEO Giancarlo Russo, CTO Alberto Ornaghi, and CRO Marco Valleri, have previously been engaged in developing software for various governments that was used to violate individual rights such as breach of privacy and to some extent even right to <\/span>life<\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n In their previous outfit, according to a report by the <\/span>Washington Post<\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/strong>, the three executives all worked in a company named Hacking Team which developed spyware for the Saudi Arabia government<\/strong>. According to the report, the enforcement group that utilized the software used it allegedly to track and murder dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi<\/strong>. Additionally, Motherboard has reported previously that the Hacking Team has worked with the <\/span>Ethiopian<\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/strong> and <\/span>UAE<\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/strong> governments to create surveillance systems through which these governments have surveilled and arrested several journalists.<\/span><\/p>\n It is not too hard to imagine that the Hacking Team\u2019s latest outfit, the Neutrino startup that Coinbase just acquired has been built to spy on the blockchain. Therefore most proponents of the blockchain revolution have banded together to create the #deletecoinbase movement on Twitter. However, some users have been receiving error messages as they try to delete their accounts. Evidently, Coinbase does not allow anyone to close to close their accounts if they still have any amount of cryptocurrency of fiat in their wallets.<\/span><\/p>\n