A managing partner at one of Silicon Valley’s leading venture capital firms has reportedly fallen victim to a recent data breach at Coinbase, raising alarms about potential risks faced by other notable investors.
Bloomberg reported on May 16 that Roelof Botha, the Managing Partner at Sequoia Capital, is among the individuals whose personal data has been compromised.
The breach, which affected Coinbase users through a targeted social engineering attack, is believed to have originated from a bribery scheme involving customer service representatives employed by the cryptocurrency exchange.
Botha Oversees Assets Valued in the Hundreds of Millions
While the specifics of Botha’s personal holdings remain undisclosed, it is estimated that he manages assets totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.
In a blog post dated May 15, Coinbase confirmed the breach, stating that cybercriminals gained access to customer information by infiltrating its internal support systems.
The attackers allegedly demanded a ransom of $20 million, which Coinbase declined to pay. The full extent of the breach is still being determined.
In response to the situation, security teams at competing exchanges Kraken and Binance are now investigating similar intrusion attempts, according to Bloomberg. However, neither platform has publicly acknowledged any breach at this time.
Philip Martin, Coinbase’s Chief Security Officer, disclosed that the employees involved in the compromised support staff were located in India and have since been dismissed.
Additionally, Coinbase has filed a disclosure with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, estimating that remediation efforts could cost between $180 million and $400 million.
The breach negatively impacted Coinbase’s stock, resulting in shares (COIN) plummeting over 7% to $244 before experiencing a slight recovery to $264.24.
Coinbase suffered a massive data breach. But no, its systems didn’t get hacked.
Humans did.
We unpack how bribery, social engineering, and KYC failures put Coinbase users at risk, and why this keeps happening across crypto.
w/ @lopp, @jameswester and @Leishman.… pic.twitter.com/RmD7PgZJex
— Laura Shin (@laurashin) May 16, 2025
Adding to the complexities, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has been spotted in Washington, D.C., where he engaged with lawmakers as Congress evaluates two crucial pieces of cryptocurrency legislation concerning stablecoins and digital asset market structure.
The timing of the breach is particularly significant for the regulatory landscape of the crypto industry and could shape opinions as the proposed bills advance towards a vote.
Coinbase Reports First-Quarter Revenue Growth, But Profit Plummets
In its first-quarter results, Coinbase revealed a 24% increase in revenue year-over-year, reaching $2 billion. However, this figure fell short of analyst projections and was down 10% compared to the previous quarter.
Transaction revenue increased to $1.26 billion, while the subscriptions and services segment—which includes staking and custodial offerings—grew by 37% to nearly $700 million, indicating a diversification in the company’s income streams beyond trading.
Despite the revenue rise, net income saw a staggering decline of 94%, totaling $66 million as the company wrote down its crypto holdings in response to market fluctuations.
Adjusted earnings were reported at $526.6 million, equating to $1.94 per share, still below last year’s figure of $2.53. Operating expenses rose by 51% to $1.3 billion due to heightened marketing efforts and asset devaluations.
Coinbase attributed its earnings challenges to volatile macroeconomic factors and changes in digital asset prices.
Nevertheless, the company recorded its second-highest monthly user count ever, with CFO Alesia Haas emphasizing increased engagement in non-trading services.
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