The cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase recently announced that it played a "key role" in supporting a major investigation by the U.S. Secret Service, which successfully seized $225 million in assets related to cryptocurrency investment fraud earlier this month.
On June 18, the U.S. Department of Justice submitted a request to seize over $225 million in cryptocurrency recovered by the Secret Service, which was allegedly obtained illegally by "pig butchering" scammers. Shawn Bradstreet, head of the Secret Service, noted that this was the largest cryptocurrency seizure operation in the agency's history.
Coinbase revealed in a blog post on Tuesday that the company, along with several other exchanges, participated in the Secret Service's "investigative task force" in 2024, assisting in identifying fraud victims, analyzing on-chain fund flows, and establishing a chain of evidence for the cryptocurrency seizure case.
Coinbase stated that between February 26 and 29 of last year, its team tracked millions of dollars in cryptocurrency transactions flowing to illegal wallets and other suspicious account activities, which helped the Secret Service identify potential victims.
"Through blockchain analysis and subpoena records, the U.S. Secret Service successfully identified over 130 unsuspecting Coinbase customers who collectively lost $2.3 million," Coinbase said in a statement.
According to Coinbase, the Secret Service also traced some of the frozen funds to 140 accounts from the cryptocurrency exchange OKX, many of which were held by individuals detained at Southeast Asian scam organization bases.
Stablecoin issuer Tether provided significant assistance during the investigation and was publicly thanked by the Department of Justice. The agency froze 39 wallet addresses containing $225 million, primarily in the form of its issued stablecoin Tether (USDT). Subsequently, Tether destroyed all tokens involved in the case.
Coinbase explained that an equivalent amount of new USDT was then reissued and transferred to a wallet controlled by the Secret Service.
"This process is fully visible on the blockchain, vividly demonstrating how cryptocurrency can enhance the transparency of law enforcement actions," the exchange platform emphasized.
The destruction of tokens means that these tokens are permanently removed from circulation. Typically, this operation is achieved by sending the tokens to an inaccessible wallet address.
In May of this year, the Australian Federal Police seized approximately 25 bitcoins (BTC), valued at over $2.6 million, allegedly related to a robbery of 950 bitcoins stolen from a French cryptocurrency exchange in 2013.
In February of this year, German law enforcement seized €34 million (approximately $38 million) in cryptocurrency from the exchange platform eXch, which was reportedly used to launder funds obtained from a $1.4 billion hack of Bybit.
Related: $16 billion password leak incident raises concerns about cryptocurrency security
Original text: “Coinbase claims to play a ‘key role’ in the largest cryptocurrency seizure case in U.S. Secret Service history”
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