Trump Admin Beats Coinbase, Privacy Advocates in Supreme Court IRS Showdown
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Harper v. Faulkender, a case challenging the application of the Fourth Amendment to digital financial data, impacting companies like Coinbase. The case sought to re-evaluate the "third-party doctrine," which denies bank customers privacy rights over records held by financial institutions. Critics argue this infringes on user privacy. In 2018, the Court ruled that warrants are needed for accessing certain cell phone records, raising hopes for similar protections for crypto transaction data. Coinbase supported Harper, who claimed the IRS violated his rights by seizing his crypto data from exchanges. The Court's refusal to hear the case leaves the third-party doctrine intact, benefiting the IRS's ability to collect financial information from crypto exchanges, despite Coinbase's opposition to broad data requests.
