Coinbase, US-UK Agencies Freeze ₱717.01 million ($12 million) in Phishing Op
Coinbase's Global Intelligence team joined US and UK law enforcement to freeze ₱717.01 million ($12 million) in stolen crypto after a week-long operational sprint at NCA headquarters in London. The operation identified over 20,000 victims of approval phishing fraud.
Key Takeaway
Blockchain transparency let law enforcement freeze stolen crypto in one week instead of months.
Coinbase's Global Intelligence team joined the US Secret Service and UK National Crime Agency to freeze ₱717.01 million ($12 million) in stolen crypto after a week-long operational sprint at NCA headquarters in London.
The partnership traced ₱2.69 billion ($45 million) in total stolen funds and identified over 20,000 victims of approval phishing fraud. Binance, Kraken, Tether, and blockchain security firm Chainalysis also participated in Operation Atlantic, which was announced Thursday.
Approval phishing tricks crypto users into signing malicious transactions that grant scammers unlimited access to their wallets. Coinbase said the goal was to identify victims, trace stolen funds, and disrupt the infrastructure behind these scams as quickly as possible. The team mapped out 120 web domains used in the schemes.
NCA Deputy Director Miles Bronfield said the intensive action led to safeguarding thousands of victims in the UK and overseas, stopped criminals in their tracks, and helped save others from losing their funds. Coinbase noted that traditional financial crime coordination across borders would take months, but blockchain technology allowed them to move from identification to action in a single week.
The operation came just over a week after North Korean hackers allegedly stole $285 million through a Solana and Drift protocol exploit. The FBI reported that crypto scams accounted for $11.4 billion in losses in 2025, making cross-border coordination between law enforcement and crypto firms increasingly urgent.
This article was written based on reporting from Decrypt.
