The Supreme Court denied a motion to review a case challenging the IRS' right to individual taxpayers' trading information held by Coinbase, the country's largest crypto exchange.
Why it matters: In doing so, the court opted not to revisit the limits of privacy in the internet era.
Catch up quick: In 2016, the IRS served the exchange with a John Doe summons, seeking information about customers who made virtual currency transactions between 2013 and 2015.
In 2020, James Harper, a Coinbase customer, sued the agency and its director over the collection of data, under the fourth and fifth amendments of the constitution.
The latest: The Supreme Court yesterday denied a request to take up the decision to dismiss the case, first made by a U.S. District Court in 2021, and upheld by an appeals court.
Friction point: "The Court should intervene to clarify that the third-party doctrine does not allow the IRS to conduct dragnet searches," Coinbase wrote in an amicus brief supporting the motion challenging the decision.
The third-party doctrine is a concept from case law that says individuals cannot be protected against warrantless searches for data if the records in question are shared with a third party.
Such as, using your bank or a fintech app.
💠Our thought bubble: Don't expect anything to change after this decision. Everyone has been operating as if the IRS would win.
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