The Securities and Exchange Commission unintentionally leaked the personal information of several crypto miners, a disclosure that violates federal privacy laws.
The SEC had been privately investigating Green, a blockchain-based organization that claims to create a “decentralized power grid,” for several years. Parts of that investigation included reaching out to consumers about their purchase of products from Green and asking about their experience. While Green’s members had cooperated with the SEC to answer all relevant queries, the agency leaked the names and emails of more than 650 people on Jan. 6 when it failed to bcc all 650 users in an email, according to screenshots viewed by the Washington Examiner.
The leak has had a detrimental effect on the community of crypto enthusiasts, according to those involved in the email. They claim the information is more than enough for them to be identified and hack the “nodes,” or computers, they use to produce Green crypto tokens via “mining” — that is, the use of high-powered computers to verify virtual coin transactions.
No hacks have been reported as of Tuesday. The Green community also put a heavy emphasis on maintaining consumer privacy due to the blockchain allowing users to trade and mine tokens anonymously and said it believes the release of personal identifying information to be detrimental to that purpose.
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The accidental release of personal information by a federal agency violates privacy laws. The SEC states on its website that any personally identifying information gathered by the agency for investigation purposes is protected by the Privacy Act of 1974. The act prohibits the sharing of information gathered by a federal agency without proper consent, making this email a privacy breach.
“Protecting the privacy of all parties is critically important, and the SEC is looking into this matter,” an SEC spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
Green describes itself as a “proof of power peer-to-peer green blockchain” with the goal of changing how power is handled by providing mined crypto tokens in exchange for using customers’ power and computers.
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The SEC has been involved in multiple investigations involving crypto. Most notably, it is investigating the cryptoexchange FTX after the company collapsed and charging several former leaders and employees with fraud charges, including its founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
