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Topic

Stablecoin freezes and seizures

The power of stablecoin issuers to blacklist or freeze balances at specific addresses, and law enforcement's use of it to recover stolen or illicit funds.

Current stories

investOne report1 publisher

Suspected Ledger wallet thefts near $90 million under investigation as buyers from reseller CryptoBilis report losses

Ledger paused sales through authorized reseller CryptoBilis after investigators put suspected losses among its customers near $90 million. How the wallets were breached is still unknown. Ledger's fix is a new device with a fresh recovery phrase, which puts the suspicion on the sales channel.

Publishers:cryptoslate.com

Reality

Evidence40
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+15
Incentives
Not scored
Confidence35
investOne report1 publisher

Suspect in Ledger reseller breach routes $1.34 million through Tornado Cash and Binance

Onchain Lens traced 430.2 ETH, about $1.07 million, from a suspect in the Ledger CryptoBilis reseller breach into Tornado Cash, plus $270,280 into Binance. The flows are under 2% of the $70.6 million TokenPost valued in the suspect's wallets, so most of what the suspect holds has not been traced to a mixer or exchange as Ledger investigates.

Reality

Evidence45
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+10
Incentives
Not scored
Confidence40
investConfirmed8 publishers

ZachXBT staked $349.7K of his own money to pose as a client of North Korea's launderers

ZachXBT says he fronted $349.7K in USDC to pose as a client of the Chinese syndicate laundering North Korea's Bybit haul. The only recovery on record, a 442K USDT freeze by Tether, covers at most 3.7% of the $12M+ cluster he says the sting exposed.

Perspective Coverage

8 publishers
Builder
Builder 15%
Operator
Operator 54%
Investor
Investor 31%

Reality

Evidence50
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+35
Incentives40
Confidence55
investConfirmed15 publishers

Most of Bitget's $387.5 million hack loss sits untouched in attacker wallets

Bitget now puts its September breach at $387.5 million, and AMLBot estimates $343 million of it sat untouched in 13 attacker wallets on Sept. 25. The phased withdrawals due from Sept. 28 are the better guide to whether customer money is safe.

Perspective Coverage

15 publishers
Builder
Builder 25%
Operator
Operator 43%
Investor
Investor 32%

Reality

Evidence66
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+20
Incentives60
Confidence62
investConfirmed5 publishers

Prosecutors chase 4% of an alleged $1.5 billion Iran oil network through two Binance customers

The Southern District of New York filed on September 14 to take roughly $61 million in crypto from two China-based firms that used Binance trading accounts, under a standard of proof that stops at more likely than not.

Perspective Coverage

5 publishers
Builder
Builder 15%
Operator
Operator 46%
Investor
Investor 39%

Reality

Evidence68
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+20
Incentives55
Confidence65