ShapeShift sheds light on its 2018 law enforcement requests

Following Kraken’s example, ShapeShift has decided to bring more transparency to the volume and character of legal requests it's received from various law enforcement agencies, the company wrote wrote in a blog post.

Last year, the company received a total of 60 inquiries; one in three originated from the U.S., often in the form of subpoenas—court-order requests for documentation that might be useful during an investigation. Similarly to other companies, Shapeshift noted an increase in inquiries at the end of the year—60 per cent of all inquiries took place between September and December.

However, ShapeShift says it does not find the trend worrying. “Is ShapeShift’s annual number of requests high or unusual? The short answer is no. Requests of this type, especially in the cryptocurrency industry, are common, and based on our number of transactions and user volumes, this seems to be pretty typical,” read the ShapeShift blog post.

Cryptocurrencies as a technology are still under a microscope due to their nascence. ShapeShift explained, “these types of law enforcement requests happen – almost continuously.”