Revolut vs Coinbase

Revolut collects broad categories of personal data including IDs, financial details, device data, location, contacts, biometrics, behavioral signals, and inferred profiles. This creates a detailed picture of your finances and app use.

Revolut may use automated systems, including AI, to open accounts, detect fraud, and lock, restrict, or close accounts. In practice, users may face sudden service interruptions pending review.

Revolut expressly says it will not sell your personal data. That is a meaningful privacy commitment compared with many consumer platforms.

Users can access, correct, delete, restrict, object, withdraw consent, and request transfer of certain data. Practical controls are available in-app or by email.

Personal data may be kept for long periods after the relationship ends, and some fraud-related records may be retained even longer. Deletion requests may therefore only be partially honored.

Revolut shares data within its group and with service providers, payment networks, credit agencies, partners, authorities, and payment counterparties. Some recipients of your payments will receive identifying details like your name and IBAN.

If you enter the wrong account details or pay the wrong person, Revolut generally is not responsible and only says it will try to help recover funds. Users bear much of the risk of payment mistakes.

If an automated decision significantly affects you, you can ask for manual review and challenge the result. This matters because account opening, fraud checks, restrictions, closures, and credit decisions may be automated.

If you cannot resolve a complaint with Revolut, you may escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service. This gives users an external dispute option beyond dealing only with the company.

You can download your payment and account information from the app while your account is active. That supports record-keeping and practical portability.

The terms say English law applies and court claims must be brought in England and Wales. That may make court action less convenient for some users, though it does not waive the right to complain to the Ombudsman.

Customer money is held as safeguarded e-money in segregated accounts or low-risk assets, which offers insolvency protection mechanics. But it is not covered by the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

Crypto assets and e-money are not protected like bank deposits or investment accounts. If Coinbase fails or assets lose value, users may have limited or no compensation scheme coverage.

If you send unsupported tokens or use the wrong wallet format, Coinbase says those assets can be permanently lost. Recovery, if offered at all, is optional and may involve fees.

Coinbase can refuse service, suspend, restrict, or terminate accounts and some features at its discretion, especially for compliance or verification reasons. This can interrupt access to trading or wallets without much user control.

Coinbase may request detailed identification, financial, device, and source-of-funds information, and can use third parties and agencies to verify you. This means substantial personal data collection as a condition of access.

Coinbase states its EEA services are provided by regulated Irish and Luxembourg entities. This gives users some oversight and formal supervisory bodies, though protections differ between e-money and crypto services.

Depending on location, users can request access, correction, deletion, portability, objection, restriction, and consent withdrawal through the dashboard, support, or the DPO email. These are practical privacy controls, not just abstract rights.

For many non-e-money services, Coinbase can change the agreement by posting an updated version, and continued use counts as acceptance. Users may need to monitor changes themselves to avoid being bound.

Your information may be shared with affiliates, service providers, regulators, law enforcement, fraud agencies, and other third parties to operate services and meet legal obligations. This is common in finance, but still expansive.

Coinbase keeps data as long as needed for services, legal obligations, security, and AML/KYC compliance, and specifically says biometric data may be retained for regulatory periods. Deletion is limited by those retention duties.

The terms limit Coinbase's responsibility for many losses and set claim time limits. In practice, users may have reduced ability to recover damages, especially for indirect or market-related losses.

Coinbase says it will not discriminate against users for exercising legal privacy rights. That is a meaningful assurance when asking for access, deletion, or other data rights.

Users have routes beyond customer support, including the FSPO for unresolved e-money complaints and data protection authorities for privacy complaints. This is better than requiring all disputes to stay entirely in-house.