Coinbase Signs $1.36M Deal To Provide US Immigration With Analytics Software

Crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc COIN has secured a government contract that could pay out as much as $1.365 million.

What Happened: According to a new listing on the Federal Procurement Data System, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has awarded Coinbase a contract to develop software for its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) branch.

The new deal came into effect Sept. 16 and is Coinbase’s largest federal contract yet. The crypto exchange is to build “application development software as a service” for ICE over the course of one year.

If the contract ends in September 2022, Coinbase will be awarded $455,000, as per data from USA Spending. However, if the deal extends until 2024, then Coinbase stands to earn a potential reward of $1.365 million.

“This isn’t very much money for Coinbase in the grand scheme of things,” said Alex Gladstein, chief strategy officer at Human Rights Foundation, on Twitter.

“Strange that they would risk so much reputationally for such a relatively small sum.”

What Else: Earlier this month, Coinbase ran into trouble with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with regards to an upcoming new “Lend” product that the regulator deemed a security.

“They refuse to tell us why they think it's a security, and instead subpoena a bunch of records from us (we comply), demand testimony from our employees (we comply), and then tell us they will be suing us if we proceed to launch, with zero explanation as to why,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said at the time in a series of tweets.

COIN Price Action: Coinbase shares were trading down 4.14% at $235.04 Monday.