Key Takeaways
- Coinbase’s blockchain tracing enabled the Secret Service to seize $225.3 million in USDT from a global scam ring.
- Tether froze the implicated wallets and will burn and re-mint tokens for victim restitution after judicial approval.
- The operation is the largest crypto seizure in Secret Service history, involving over 400 victims and cross-border criminal activity.
Coinbase has revealed its key role in assisting the U.S. Secret Service with the historic seizure of $225.3 million in USDT linked to a large-scale pig-butchering scam.
The exchange’s threat-intelligence team collaborated closely with federal agents for four months, tracking transactions from 130 victim wallets.
These efforts uncovered outbound transfers tied to an Asia-based scam operation, ultimately leading investigators to 39 USDT wallets.
Combined work
Coinbase’s threat-intelligence team worked shoulder-to-shoulder with agents for four months, tracing outbound transfers from 130 customer accounts whose owners lost a combined $2.3 million to an Asia-based “pig-butchering” scam ring.
On November 20, 2023, Tether froze these wallets, which still contained nearly all illicit funds when the Secret Service seized them on June 18, 2025.
The operation, now the agency’s largest crypto seizure on record, was initially announced with few technical details. Coinbase’s recent disclosure clarified that advanced blockchain tracing was central to the investigation.
Victims and restitution process
According to court documents, the scam ring lured more than 400 victims, primarily U.S. residents, to fraudulent trading apps before emptying their accounts.
Some scam workers were reportedly trafficked to compounds in Myanmar and Cambodia, highlighting the international scope of the operation.
The seized USDT is currently held in a Secret Service-controlled wallet pending a judge’s forfeiture approval.
Tether plans to burn the frozen tokens and re-mint them under government control, enabling restitution for victims through the Justice Department’s remission process—a procedure that can span 12 to 24 months.
Broader impacts
The FBI’s 2024 Internet Crime Report noted $5.8 billion in pig-butchering losses, with total bitcoin scam losses estimated at $9.8 billion.
The agencies have called for more victims to file complaints and indicated that further arrests are possible. Coinbase is using the case to advocate for clearer federal regulations encouraging cooperation between exchanges and law enforcement.
