The U.S. Secret Service, a federal agency known for protecting the president and other dignitaries, has quietly transformed into a key force against digital financial crimes and cryptocurrency fraud.

According to a report by Bloomberg, the Global Investigative Operations Center (GIOC) under the U.S. Secret Service has recovered over $175 million in cryptocurrency from criminals over the past 10 years; combined with another $225 million seized in a multi-agency operation this June, the total amount recovered is approximately $400 million.

The report points out that these recovered assets are mostly stored in a single cold wallet, which is kept offline and cannot be directly connected to the internet, effectively preventing hacker intrusions and ensuring asset security.

Looking back in history, the U.S. Secret Service was established in 1865, initially aimed at combating the rampant circulation of counterfeit currency. Today, in an era where crypto assets are mainstream, they have extended their "anti-fraud" mission into the virtual world, targeting money laundering, fraud, ransomware, and other cryptocurrency crimes, becoming a vital law enforcement agent for the U.S. in the digital financial battleground.

In addition to asset seizures, the Global Investigative Operations Center (GIOC) under the U.S. Secret Service has also proactively engaged, hosting multiple week-long free cryptocurrency crime investigation training sessions in over 60 countries worldwide in recent years, assisting police departments in building on-chain risk defenses. Department strategy attorney Kali Smith told (Bloomberg):

Often, it only takes a short week of training for law enforcement officers to realize that our country has long hidden so many on-chain criminal activities.

In the U.S. government's efforts to combat cryptocurrency crime, there has also been assistance from private sector operators. The U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has frequently collaborated with the Secret Service to track the flow of funds, while the stablecoin issuer Tether even included the FBI and Secret Service on its platform cooperation list at the end of last year to enhance the efficiency of asset freezing and seizure.

"U.S. Secret Service's 10-Year Fraud Bust: Nearly $400 Million in Cryptocurrency Recovered" was first published by (Block Media).