The U.S. Secret Service has confiscated approximately $400 million in crypto assets over the past ten years. This has been made possible through numerous investigations into cybercrimes and fraud involving digital currencies. The seized funds are primarily stored in a single cold wallet, which ranks among the largest in the world by asset volume.
This is reported by Business • Media
How the Service Tracks Cryptocurrency Transactions
The agency’s Global Investigative Operations Center (GIOC) actively employs modern tools to analyze blockchains, domain registries, and digital footprints to identify and apprehend criminals. In particular, due to a brief VPN failure of one of the offenders, investigators were able to determine his IP address and identify him. In most cases, these involve fraudulent schemes of pseudo-investments in cryptocurrency, where perpetrators initially show victims nonexistent profits, gain their trust, and then disappear with the invested funds.
“They send a nice photo, but behind it is an old man from Russia,” quipped Secret Service agent Jamie Lem.
Combating International Fraud Schemes
The head of the agency’s cryptocurrency division, Kali Smith, reported that operations are conducted in dozens of countries, primarily in regions with insufficient market regulation and popular residency purchase schemes. During one such operation, a Nigerian citizen suspected of sexual blackmail was apprehended. He was located by tracing a chain of transfers and involving a teenager in money laundering as a “money mule.”
According to the FBI, crypto fraud is the most common type of internet crime in the U.S. In 2024, victims reported losses totaling $9.3 billion, accounting for over half of all reported losses for the year. Since the beginning of 2025, fraud and hacks amounting to $2.47 billion have already been recorded, surpassing figures from the previous period.
Law enforcement emphasizes that the recovery of some funds has been made possible through close collaboration with representatives of the crypto industry. In particular, companies Coinbase and Tether have blocked assets and assisted investigators in their inquiries. For example, in June 2025, joint efforts led to the confiscation of $225 million in USDT stablecoins.
It was previously reported that a Nigerian fraudster posing as Steve Witkoff had seized over 250,000 USDT.