My lovely people, things got serious in the cryptocurrency neighborhood! 🚨 The United States Secret Service, with the help of none other than Coinbase, dealt a devastating blow to scams. Imagine this: they seized 225 million dollars in crypto assets! Yes, you heard right, two hundred twenty-five million! 🤯 This comes from some really ugly scams called "pig butchering" (what a macabre name!). The Department of Justice released the news on June 18, stating that this is the largest crypto seizure in the agency's history. A round of applause for the collaboration between the government and companies like Coinbase and Tether! 👏

Coinbase, the star detective: tracking the cash and uncovering the pot 🕵️‍♂️

Coinbase didn't stay behind and in a detailed blog post, they explained how they were the detectives of this movie. In just four intense days last year (between February 26 and 29), their team got to work tracking millions of cryptocurrency transactions. Crazy! 🤯 They identified suspicious wallets and unusual activities in accounts. With all that forensic analysis of the blockchain, and requesting some records, they managed to identify more than 130 Coinbase clients who had fallen into these traps! Among them, they lost 2.3 million dollars. A serious matter! But it didn't stop there: they also found connections with 140 accounts on the OKX platform, many of which were linked to people deceived in fraud networks in Southeast Asia. Pure action movie! 🎬

Tether in the game: burning and reissuing cash for justice 🔥⚖️

And here comes another key player: Tether. They were a fundamental ally in this investigation. In 2023, they froze 39 wallet addresses with 225 million dollars, most of it in their cryptocurrency USDT. The coolest part is that these tokens were "burned" (removed from circulation forever) and then they issued an equal amount of new USDT and delivered them to a wallet controlled by the Secret Service. Now that's transparency and traceability of the blockchain in action! Coinbase highlighted this as an example of how cryptocurrencies can help authorities do their job and ensure more accountability. Now that's what we like! 💪

The global fight against crypto crime: the party is over for the crooks! 🌍🚨

This seizure is not an isolated case; it's part of a global offensive! It seems that crypto scammers are running out of luck. For example, in May, the Australian Federal Police seized almost 25 bitcoins (about 2.6 million dollars) related to a 2013 theft on a French platform. And earlier, in February, German authorities confiscated 34 million euros in digital assets from a platform that laundered money from a massive cyberattack. All this shows that international authorities are keeping a close eye and are using the transparency of blockchain technology to dismantle these criminal networks. So, crooks, stay alert because they are hunting you down! 🚓$BTC $ETH $XRP