US Government Calls Court To Dismiss a Coinbase User’s Fight

The U.S. government has requested that the Supreme Court decline to hear a Coinbase user’s challenge against the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) bid to access his cryptocurrency transaction data.

In a filing dated May 30, Solicitor General D. John Sauer contended that Coinbase user James Harper does not possess a Fourth Amendment right to protect his financial records maintained by the exchange.

The government asserted that Harper “voluntarily” disclosed his information to Coinbase and that the IRS adhered to the appropriate legal processes to acquire it via a court-authorized summons.

Harper’s case revolves around a 2016 IRS inquiry into significant tax underreporting regarding cryptocurrency profits. During this period, the IRS identified a stark disparity between the millions of Coinbase users engaging in Bitcoin trading and the relatively small number of taxpayers reporting cryptocurrency earnings.