Goobit enters court battle to guard customer data

In order to protect its customer information, a Sweden-based bitcoin brokerage has gone to court with the country's tax agency.

Goobit AB, the firm that operates BTCX, an exchange based out of Stockholm, is fighting a third-party audit request from the Swedish tax authority 'Skatteverket' that would entail it to divulge information about its customer base.

The exchange has gone to court in order to put off this information from being disclosed, Swedish language newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported last week.

Goobit chief marketing officer Joakim Herlin-Ljunglöf told CoinDesk that Swedish authorities might use such information to track bitcoin transactions on the blockchain, and said, "With the information they have requested the tax agency will see each bitcoin's history, which includes all the previous owners and transactions, and it also gives the tax agency the opportunity to monitor transactions that will be implemented in the future, by people who may have nothing at all to do with Sweden or Swedish taxes."