Coinbase, Mt. Gox, and Gemini are well-known virtual currency exchanges. It is through these exchanges that cryptocurrency users may execute transactions (e.g., a Bitcoin transfer—whereby a transaction announcement occurs on the blockchain). As noted in a previous blog post, cryptocurrency transactions are pseudonymous, not anonymous. Further, cryptocurrency users do not have Fourth Amendment privacy interests in their virtual currency transaction records. See Bare Bitcoins – No Fourth Amendment Privacy in Virtual Currency Records. However, in the civil context, are litigants privy to blockchain information to identify users? Last Friday, a federal district court dealt with whether a civil litigant could apply for leave to serve a third-party subpoena on certain cryptocurrency exchange platforms.
Strobel v. Lesnick, et al.
A. Background
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