Class Action Alleges Visa-Acquired Co Was ‘Data Plumbing’ Venmo, Cash App & More

A new class action alleges that Plaid, which Visa recently bought for over $5 billion, had unparalleled access to the financial information of millions of users.

June 25, a new class action was filed in California against fintech startup Plaid, which was acquired by Visa for $5.3 billion earlier this year. The plaintiffs allege that Plaid violated privacy and data protections by accumulating and monetizing financial transactions of millions of users.

The complaint alleges that the company accumulated this data by “data plumbing” popular services like Venmo, Stripe, Square’s Cash App and Robinhood. It purports that Plaid knew:

“Every dollar you deposit or withdraw, every dollar you charge or pay to your credit card, and every dollar you put away for retirement, within hours after you make the transaction. Imagine this includes every book or movie ticket or meal you purchase, every bill you pay to a doctor or hospital, and every payment you make (or miss) on your mortgage, student loan or credit card bill.”

Cointelegraph will update this article as more information becomes available.