Coinbase Preservation & Emergency Requests: Police Guide and Template
Coinbase publishes no preservation or emergency procedure. What its law enforcement portal, privacy policy and the statute say, plus templates.
Coinbase takes criminal-matter requests from law enforcement through a third-party portal. This guide is for authorised law enforcement officers, prosecutors’ staff and government investigators who want to ask Coinbase to preserve account records before legal process is ready, or who have an emergency. It is short on purpose: Coinbase does not publish a preservation-request procedure or an emergency-request procedure, and we say exactly what it does publish instead of filling the gap. The general process (subpoenas, warrants, data types) is in our Coinbase law enforcement request guide. This is not legal advice, and the pages below were read on 24 October 2026.
Who this is for. The portal is for law enforcement only. Victims and private individuals cannot use it; if you lost crypto, report it to the police: see our country-by-country cybercrime help hub.
- Where to submit: Coinbase’s help page says criminal subpoenas and official requests for criminal matters go through the Kodex portal at app.kodexglobal.com/gov/signup, where you create an account before submitting. Other law enforcement questions go to [email protected].
- Preservation: no preservation-request process, retention period or extension rule is published. The federal statute, 18 U.S.C. section 2703(f), provides 90 days, renewable for a further 90 days.
- Emergency: no emergency route or response time is published on Coinbase’s pages. Coinbase’s privacy policy says it may preserve, review and share information with law enforcement where someone’s vital interests require protection, such as emergencies.
- Freezes: Coinbase’s law enforcement pages do not discuss them. Its user agreement has separate suspension and legal-order terms.
What Coinbase publishes
| Topic | What the pages say |
|---|---|
| Criminal matters | Criminal subpoenas and official requests for criminal matters are submitted through the Kodex portal; you are prompted to create an account first. For technical problems with Kodex, Coinbase’s help page gives [email protected]. |
| Outside the US | Coinbase’s EEA legal page gives a different Kodex sign-up link for criminal-matter subpoenas (app.kodexglobal.com/coinbase-intl/signup). For formal service on a non-US Coinbase entity, the help page says to check your country’s public business registry for the address for service. |
| Civil or formal service | US legal documents go to Coinbase’s registered agent, CSC, not the portal. The user agreement adds that the agent accepts service only if the named recipient matches the registered entity (Coinbase, Inc.). |
| Review of requests | The 2025 transparency report says each request is reviewed individually, and that Coinbase seeks to narrow requests that are overly broad or vague. |
| Preservation requests | No procedure, accepted identifiers, retention period, extension rule or user-notice policy is published. |
| Emergency requests | No dedicated route, definition or response time is published by Coinbase. |
We looked for a standalone law enforcement guidelines page and did not find one: the address coinbase.com/legal/law_enforcement returned a 404 when we tried it. The Kodex sign-up page (Kodex is a separate company) asks you to certify that you are acting in an official capacity for law enforcement, legal or emergency response purposes, in connection with an official investigation or an emergency involving imminent danger of serious physical injury or death. Kodex also describes the companies on its network, in general terms, as receiving preservation letters and emergency disclosure requests. That is Kodex describing its platform; it does not say what Coinbase accepts.
Preservation requests
Coinbase’s privacy policy says it may access, read, preserve and disclose information when it believes this is reasonably necessary to comply with law, legal obligations, law enforcement and other governmental requests, or court orders. That sentence describes what Coinbase may do; it is not a procedure for you to follow. For the legal requirement, look to the statute. 18 U.S.C. section 2703(f)(1) says a provider of wire or electronic communication services or a remote computing service, on the request of a governmental entity, shall take all necessary steps to preserve records and other evidence in its possession pending the issuance of a court order or other process. Section 2703(f)(2) says the records are retained for 90 days, extended for an additional 90-day period on a renewed request. Coinbase does not say how it applies this provision, and whether a given crypto-exchange record falls within the statute is a question for your legal adviser. Diary the dates yourself, and ask inside the portal how a preservation letter should be submitted. Sections 2702 and 2703 were last amended in 2018: the wording quoted here is unchanged in the US Code as published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel, current through Public Law 119-124 (15 October 2026).
Emergency requests
Coinbase publishes no emergency definition or route. Its privacy policy says it may preserve, review and share information with law enforcement and others in circumstances where someone’s vital interests require protection, such as in the case of emergencies, for example where there is a risk to the well-being or life of a Coinbase customer. That is a statement of discretion, not a promise to respond or a timeline.
The statute. 18 U.S.C. section 2702(b)(8) (contents of communications) and section 2702(c)(4) (customer records) say a provider “may divulge” the information to a governmental entity if the provider, in good faith, believes that an emergency involving danger of death or serious physical injury to any person requires disclosure without delay of communications (contents, under (b)(8)) or information (records, under (c)(4)) relating to the emergency. The wording is permissive and turns on the provider’s good-faith belief. The statute addresses providers of electronic communication service and remote computing service to the public; Coinbase’s pages do not say whether it treats its records as within that definition.
Account freezes versus preservation
Coinbase’s law enforcement pages say nothing about freezes. Its US user agreement (last updated 21 October 2026) says Coinbase may suspend, restrict or terminate access to services with immediate effect, in its sole discretion; and that after an account is closed a user can transfer assets for 90 days unless transfer is prohibited by applicable law or by a facially valid subpoena or court order. A separate clause on Coinbase Custom Stablecoins says Coinbase may freeze those tokens in a wallet address as required by law or any court or other authority. These are account terms, not a preservation route, and nothing Coinbase publishes says a preservation request holds funds.
Template: preservation request
Adapt to your agency’s format; not legal advice. Coinbase publishes no preservation template, so this is built from the statute and from common identifiers, not from a Coinbase requirement.
[AGENCY LETTERHEAD] Date: [DATE] To: Coinbase, Inc. [OR THE COINBASE ENTITY YOU HAVE IDENTIFIED] Submitted via: Kodex portal, request reference [REFERENCE] RE: REQUEST TO PRESERVE RECORDS ([LEGAL BASIS, FOR EXAMPLE 18 U.S.C. SECTION 2703(f), IF IT APPLIES]) Agency reference number: [CASE NUMBER] Offence under investigation: [OFFENCE] [AGENCY NAME] requests that you take all necessary steps to preserve the records and other evidence described below, pending the issuance of a court order or other legal process. This request is for preservation only. Account identifiers (as many as known): Account email: [EMAIL] Phone: [PHONE] Name: [NAME] Wallet addresses: [ADDRESSES] Transaction hashes: [HASHES] Date range: [START DATE] to [END DATE], time zone [TIME ZONE] Records to preserve: [LIST THE RECORD TYPES YOU NEED] Legal process to follow: [PROCESS TYPE] expected by [DATE]. Non-disclosure: [INCLUDE ONLY IF YOU HOLD A COURT ORDER OR OTHER LEGAL BASIS: CITE IT HERE] Requester: [NAME], [TITLE], [AGENCY] Official email: [EMAIL] Phone: [PHONE] Signature: [SIGNATURE]
Template: emergency request
Adapt to your agency’s format; not legal advice. The Kodex sign-up certification refers to an emergency involving imminent danger of serious physical injury or death, so state that danger plainly.
[AGENCY LETTERHEAD] EMERGENCY DISCLOSURE REQUEST: URGENT Sent: [DATE], [TIME], [TIME ZONE] To: Coinbase, Inc. [OR THE COINBASE ENTITY YOU HAVE IDENTIFIED] Agency reference number: [CASE NUMBER] Nature of the emergency (facts only): [WHO IS AT RISK, WHAT IS HAPPENING, WHEN AND WHERE] Danger of death or serious physical injury: [DESCRIBE] Why disclosure is needed without delay: [REASON] Link to the account: [CONNECTION] Account identifiers: [EMAIL / PHONE / WALLET ADDRESSES / TRANSACTION HASHES] Information requested (narrowest necessary): [LIST] [AGENCY NAME] asks you to consider disclosure under 18 U.S.C. section 2702(b)(8) and/or 2702(c)(4), which permit a provider that in good faith believes an emergency involving danger of death or serious physical injury to any person requires disclosure without delay of communications or information relating to the emergency to disclose to a governmental entity. Follow-up legal process: [PROCESS TYPE] will be submitted by [DATE]. Immediate contact (answered now): [NAME], [PHONE], [OFFICIAL EMAIL] Requester: [NAME], [TITLE], [AGENCY] Signature: [SIGNATURE]
Common mistakes the published pages point to
- Serving a criminal request on the registered agent. Coinbase directs formal legal documents to its registered agent, CSC, and criminal subpoenas and official requests for criminal matters to the portal.
- Naming the wrong entity for formal service. The agent accepts service only if the named recipient matches the registered entity, Coinbase, Inc., according to the user agreement.
- Overly broad or vague requests. Coinbase’s 2025 transparency report says it seeks to narrow requests that are overly broad or vague.
- Using the email address as the submission route. The [email protected] address is for other law enforcement questions; requests go through the portal.
- Using the wrong portal link outside the US. Coinbase’s EEA legal page lists a different Kodex sign-up link for criminal matters than its US pages; use the link on the legal page for the Coinbase entity concerned.
Related
- Coinbase law enforcement request guide (subpoenas, warrants, data types)
- Coinbase entry in the police data-request directory
- Investigator handbook: United States
Sources
- Coinbase Help: Who do I contact for a subpoena request, dispute, or to send a legal document
- Coinbase Legal (US)
- Coinbase Legal (EEA)
- Coinbase Global Privacy Policy
- Coinbase User Agreement (United States)
- Coinbase Transparency Report 2025
- Kodex: law enforcement account sign-up
- Kodex: verified requester
- 18 U.S.C. section 2703, U.S. Code 2024 edition (govinfo.gov)
- 18 U.S.C. section 2702, U.S. Code 2024 edition (govinfo.gov)
Browse the police data-request directory for other platforms, and if you are a victim rather than an investigator, start with our country-by-country cybercrime help hub. This guide is general reference, not legal advice: confirm current requirements in the Kodex portal before you submit.