Coinbase, a global cryptocurrency exchange that cooperated with the US federal investigative agency's fraud investigation, has been revealed to have played a key role in seizing cryptocurrency assets worth $225 million (approximately 31.28 billion won) from a fraud organization.
The US Department of Justice officially announced on June 18 (local time) that it had seized $225 million in cryptocurrency recovered by the Secret Service under the Department of Homeland Security. These assets were confirmed to have been stolen by a criminal organization involved in a cryptocurrency fraud known as 'pig butchering'. According to Shawn Bradstreet, head of the San Francisco field office of the Homeland Security Investigations, this is the largest cryptocurrency seizure in history.
The investigation was fully launched in early 2024. Coinbase disclosed that it participated in a public-private joint investigation with the US Secret Service. According to their statement, Coinbase formed a 'research sprint' with several cryptocurrency exchanges, contributing to identifying victims and establishing seizure grounds by analyzing cryptocurrency flows. In particular, they focused on tracking fund movements on the blockchain to identify illegal wallet and account activities.
Coinbase emphasized that in just four days from February 26 to 29 last year, they were able to track transactions worth millions of dollars and identify numerous victim accounts. They revealed that over 130 of their customers were found to be victims of fraud. Coinbase provided this information to the Secret Service, helping to expedite the investigation.
This case clearly demonstrates how sophisticated scam organizations are in deceiving investors and extorting cryptocurrency. At the same time, it reconfirmed that the data analysis capabilities of private platforms can provide practical assistance to investigative agencies in responding to digital asset crimes.
Coinbase stated that it will continue to strengthen cooperation with the government and expand technical and legal measures to protect its platform users.
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