The US Secret Service has been quietly amassing a crypto cold wallet that would make even the most seasoned Bitcoin whale green with envy. According to Bloomberg, the agency has seized nearly $400 million in digital assets over the past decade, making it one of the world’s largest crypto cold wallets.
The Secret Service’s Global Investigative Operations Center (GIOC) has been tracking funds through open-source tools, blockchain analysis, and patience. Jamie Lam, an investigative analyst with the US Secret Service, reportedly told law enforcement officials in Bermuda last month that the agency’s crypto trove, much of which sits in a single cold-storage wallet, results from a string of investigations into scams.
Blockchain trails unmask crypto scams
Lam’s team uses domain records, blockchain transactions, and VPN slip-ups to identify fraudsters. In one case, a cryptocurrency payment led investigators to another wallet. In another one, a brief VPN failure exposed an IP address, helping agents piece together the scam’s digital trail.
At the helm of the Secret Service’s crypto strategy is Kali Smith, who directs a team that has trained officials in over 60 countries to unmask online financial crimes.
The agency has focused on jurisdictions with weak oversight or programs selling residency to foreign nationals. “Sometimes after just a week-long training, they can be like, ‘Wow, we didn’t even realize that this is occurring in our country,'” Smith said.
Crypto scams top losses
Crypto-related scams have become the top driver of US internet crime losses. Americans reported $9.3 billion stolen in crypto fraud in 2024, more than half of the $16.6 billion in total internet crime losses that year, FBI data show.
Meanwhile, the first half of 2025 has seen more than $2.47 billion in losses due to hacks, scams, and exploits, representing a nearly 3% increase compared to the $2.4 billion stolen in 2024.
Recovering stolen crypto often depends on cooperation from industry players. Coinbase and Tether have acknowledged assisting in high-profile cases by analyzing transactions and freezing wallets. One of the largest single recoveries involved $225 million in USDt (USDT) linked to romance scams.
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2025-07-06 10:11