Coinbase Says Blockchain Forensics Helped UK Police Secure Five Convictions

HomeFeatured on homepageNewsTechCoinbase Says Blockchain Forensics Helped UK Police Secure Five Convictions

Blockchain ForensicsCoinbaseCrypto CrimeUK Police

Coinbase says its internal monitoring and blockchain forensics helped UK law enforcement secure five convictions tied to a kidnapping, robbery and money-laundering case involving a Hertfordshire man. The exchange said it contacted UK police while the crime was still in progress, after its systems detected unusual activity and signs that the customer was acting under duress.

The case began in July 2025, when a 36-year-old man went out with friends in Shoreditch, east London. Four men befriended him during the evening and later forced him back to his home, where he was held against his will, assaulted and made to access financial accounts, including his Coinbase account. When attackers tried to move funds off the platform, Coinbase escalated the incident to police and began mapping the flow of stolen assets across multiple addresses.

The exchange said its Global Intelligence team traced £1,900 in crypto and additional fiat movement across several accounts, linked wallet addresses to specific individuals and provided data and expert testimony during the trial at St Albans Crown Court. Coinbase framed the case as proof that public ledgers can work against criminals, adding that onchain transparency creates a permanent trail that is harder to erase than cash movement.

The court record gives the case its sharper criminal context. Hertfordshire Constabulary said five men were sentenced on May 18 for a so-called wrench attack that involved kidnapping the victim and stealing more than £10,000 from his bank and cryptocurrency accounts. Four men were found guilty in February of conspiracy to rob, kidnap and false imprisonment, while a fifth was convicted of money-laundering offences.

Brandon Stephenson was jailed for five and a half years. Jason Kareem received six years and six months, including time for breaching suspended sentences. Jerome Denton was jailed for six years, Royan Campbell for three years and six months, and Rayshon Keena received a two-year community order with unpaid work and compensation for money-laundering offences.

Detective Chief Inspector Nick Gardner said the offenders showed no remorse after threatening the victim, using violence and forcing him to transfer funds from personal accounts, including cash, crypto and watches. The victim described lasting emotional harm, including sleep problems, fear in public spaces and concern that attackers may have accessed personal information from his phone.

Blockchain Evidence Becomes Part Of The Conviction Story

The case is a direct example of crypto crime spilling into physical violence, not just online fraud. Attackers targeted the victim’s access credentials and biometric verification in person, then tried to move value through accounts they could control. That makes exchange detection, account freezes, device evidence and blockchain tracing part of the same investigative chain.

Coinbase has been trying to position its Global Intelligence team as a 24/7 enforcement partner for cases where stolen assets move onchain. The exchange said it uses former law-enforcement and cybercrime specialists to track illicit flows, identify wallet clusters and support prosecutions when customer safety is at risk. Its closing warning was blunt: “If you come for our customers, we will find you.”

The broader security lesson is not that crypto removes crime risk. It is that regulated platforms with monitoring systems can sometimes identify suspicious account behavior quickly enough to help police respond, especially when onchain transfers leave a traceable path. Similar blockchain-forensics work has become increasingly important across crypto recovery and law-enforcement coordination, where investigators follow wallet movement, exchange accounts and cashout routes after thefts.

The immediate record now includes five convictions, multiple prison sentences, more than £10,000 stolen from bank and crypto accounts, and Coinbase evidence used at trial. For crypto users, the case turns account security into a physical-safety issue: strong authentication helps, but duress detection, exchange escalation channels and fast law-enforcement contact can decide whether stolen funds become an unsolved wallet trail or evidence that puts attackers in court.

Ethereum Foundation Faces New Researcher Exits As Protocol Shakeup Deepens

Turkish Lira Hits New Low Against Dollar As Currency Slide Deepens

Bogdan is a genuine outside-the-box thinker. His philosophy is never to settle and always evolve. Since the very first moment, he heard of Bitcoin, he knew it would revolutionize the world.

Circle 
 
 
 
 Cross-border Payments 
 
 
 
 stablecoins 
 
 
 
 Tazapay 
 
 
 
 USDC

Circle Agrees to Buy Tazapay for $400M to Expand Global USDC Payments

Circle has agreed to acquire Singapore-based payments infrastructure company Tazapay for $400 million, bringing a business processing more than $25 billion in annualized payments into the USDC issuer’s global settlement network. The $400 million transaction will be paid in Circle Class A common stock, with the final share count based on Circle’s volume-weighted average closing price during the 20 trading days preceding completion. Adjustments will account for Tazapay debt, transaction expenses and cash. Tazapay Brings $25B in Payment Volume Tazapay…

Blackhat Hackers 
 
 
 
 Crypto Exploit 
 
 
 
 Crypto Whitehat

Crypto Whitehat vs Blackhat Hackers: What They Do and How They Operate

Crypto hackers are often discussed as if they all do the same job with different motives. In practice, the line between a whitehat security researcher and a blackhat attacker is defined as much by authorization, scope, and what happens to the funds as by technical skill. Both may understand smart contracts, bridges, wallets, validators, private keys, or protocol logic at an expert level. What separates them is how that knowledge is used. Whitehat hackers look for vulnerabilities so they can…

Grayscale 
 
 
 
 Kamino 
 
 
 
 Privacy Coins 
 
 
 
 Solana 
 
 
 
 Zcash 
 
 
 
 ZEC

Kamino Adds ZEC-Backed Credit as Zcash Rally Pushes Privacy Sector 213% Higher

Kamino has launched Zcash-backed credit on Solana, allowing ZEC holders to borrow USDC against their positions as the privacy coin trades near its strongest levels since 2016. The new ZEC lending market is curated by Allez Labs and operates as an isolated market. Users can supply ZEC as collateral, borrow USDC and use Kamino Multiply for leveraged ZEC exposure of up to 1.7x. ZEC Gains New Utility on Solana The integration gives ZEC holders access to dollar liquidity without requiring…

Bitcoin 
 
 
 
 Blockstream 
 
 
 
 Crypto Exploit 
 
 
 
 Liquid Network 
 
 
 
 SideSwap

Liquid Network Pauses After $320M Bitcoin Peg-Out Drains Most Reserves

Liquid Network has paused its Bitcoin sidechain after nearly 4,000 BTC worth about $320 million left the federation wallet through a SideSwap peg-out, reducing the reserve from roughly 4,200 BTC to about 200 BTC. The security incident unfolded on September 6 and removed roughly 95% of the Bitcoin backing L-BTC. Bridge nodes were subsequently disabled, preventing new transactions from entering Liquid, while exchanges were instructed to suspend L-BTC deposits and withdrawals. SideSwap Peg-Out Released 3,996 BTC The withdrawal passed through…

Crypto Security 
 
 
 
 DeFi Exploit 
 
 
 
 Notional Finance 
 
 
 
 Tornado Cash

Notional Finance Escrow Contract Loses $1.7M as Funds Move to Tornado Cash

A Notional Finance escrow contract appears to have been exploited for roughly $1.7 million, with the stolen stablecoins converted into Ether and deposited into Tornado Cash within hours of the drain. The affected assets included approximately 69,242 DAI and 1.658 million USDC, putting the combined loss near $1.73 million. Two addresses tied to the theft were identified as 0xC954...De69 and 0xDaCC...Ce38. Stablecoins Converted Into 689 ETH The stolen DAI and USDC were consolidated and swapped into approximately 689 ETH before…

Bitcoin 
 
 
 
 Coldcard 
 
 
 
 Crypto Exploit 
 
 
 
 Ethereum 
 
 
 
 THORChain

Coldcard Wave 3 Attacker Starts Swapping Stolen Bitcoin for ETH Through THORChain

Bitcoin stolen during the third major Coldcard attack wave has begun moving from its original attacker addresses for the first time, with part of the funds converted into Ether through THORChain. Approximately 4.2 BTC was swapped into about 135 ETH as the attacker tested multiple routes through the cross-chain liquidity protocol. Several attempted swaps were refunded before being retried, while the resulting ETH was traced to a newly created Ethereum address. Wave 3 Funds Leave Original Addresses The movement marks…

Guest post article. Guaranteed publishing with just a few clicks

Explore trending topics in the crypto community right now.

Osmosis Pauses Alloyed BTC After Nomic Double-Spend Exploit

Osmosis has suspended deposits, withdrawals, minting and redemptions for Alloyed BTC after a vulnerability on Nomic allowed an attacker to double-spend nBTC and send unbacked vouchers into Osmosis. The Nomic security failure affected 39.84 nBTC held inside Alloyed BTC, representing roughly 36% of the asset’s backing. Osmosis and the Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol were not compromised, with the vulnerability isolated to Nomic’s custom forwarding mechanism. Emergency Upgrade Freezes 22.65 BTC Osmosis’ management subDAO halted Nomic and Alloyed BTC inflows and outflows...

Iran Turns to Bitcoin and USDT for Trade as U.S. Sanctions Tighten

Iranian businesses are increasingly using Bitcoin and Tether’s USDT to settle cross-border trade as the country loosens foreign-exchange controls and seeks alternative payment routes outside the global banking system. The Central Bank of Iran has quietly allowed exporters to receive cryptocurrency payments and settle transactions through domestic crypto exchanges, according to Iranian businesses, regime insiders and industry participants interviewed by the Financial Times. The central bank has not publicly formalized the change and declined to comment on the policy. Exporters...

Mexican Musician Jonathan Meléndez Killed in Suspected Bitcoin Cold-Wallet Robbery

Mexican musician Jonathan Meléndez, his pregnant wife, their three-year-old daughter and a household worker were killed in an alleged robbery targeting a cold wallet that the attackers believed contained millions of dollars in Bitcoin. Estado de México prosecutors arrested Diego Sebastián “N” and Gerardo “N” over the September 1 killings in Atizapán de Zaragoza. Meléndez’s six-year-old son survived the attack, while the family’s dog was also killed. Suspects Allegedly Searched for Bitcoin Cold Wallet Investigators allege that Diego Sebastián had...

Strategy Buys Back $176M STRC as Strive Adds 1,375 BTC

Strategy made no Bitcoin purchases or sales between August 31 and September 7, leaving its treasury at 845,050 BTC acquired for $63.73 billion at an average cost of $75,412 per coin. The pause came immediately after Strategy returned to Bitcoin buying with a 4,603 BTC acquisition during the previous week. Capital instead moved into Strategy's preferred securities. The company repurchased 1,810,885 STRC shares for $176.3 million, with the entire amount funded from USD Cash rather than Bitcoin sales or new...

Ledger Patches Ethereum Signing Flaw Before Researchers Disclose It

Ledger has patched a vulnerability in its Ethereum hardware-wallet app that could allow a malicious dApp to replace a transaction during the approval process while the device continued showing users the transaction they originally reviewed. Security firm TestMachine disclosed the signature-substitution flaw on August 21 after reproducing it on Ledger hardware. Ledger had already shipped Ethereum app version 1.22.2 on August 12, with its release history listing security fixes for the update. Malicious dApp Could Change the Transaction Before Signing...

Jesse Pollak Pushes Back On Coinbase ETH Selling Criticism, Points To 150K ETH Treasury

Base creator Jesse Pollak has pushed back against criticism that Coinbase is selling ETH while benefiting from Ethereum, pointing to the exchange’s roughly 150,000 ETH corporate position and years of investment across the network. Pollak argued that Coinbase has held about 150,000 ETH through multiple market cycles, while describing the company as the largest ETH holder outside dedicated digital asset treasury companies by a wide margin. Coinbase’s latest regulatory filing backs up the scale of that position. The company held...

Tornado Cash Phishing Frontend Drains 1,010 ETH From User

A crypto user lost 1,010 ETH after following an old Tornado Cash bookmark into a phishing frontend that captured the private withdrawal credentials needed to access the deposited funds. The victim deposited the ETH into legitimate Tornado Cash contracts, but the malicious interface obtained the private note generated during the process. The attacker then used those credentials to withdraw the assets within roughly 12 hours without compromising the underlying Tornado Cash smart contracts. Phishing Frontend Targeted Private Withdrawal Notes Tornado...

Ethereum New Address Growth Jumps 75% As Network Activity Accelerates

Ethereum’s network-growth metric has accelerated sharply in August, with new daily ETH addresses climbing from 121,210 on August 8 to 212,560 on August 16. The increase represents roughly 75.4% growth in eight days and adds another signal that activity is returning to the network. New-address creation measures the number of addresses appearing onchain for the first time rather than the number of unique people using Ethereum. A single user or automated system can control multiple addresses, so the metric is...

5 Best Crypto APIs for Trading Bots in 2026

A crypto trading bot is a chain of dependencies. It reads a position, prices it, decides, places an order, and confirms settlement. Every one of those steps is an API call, and a failure at any single step stops the strategy. The provider choice shapes what a bot can actually do more than the strategy logic does. The common mistake is searching for one API that covers everything. No such API exists in 2026. Market data providers do not route...

Best Prediction Markets Alternatives: Outpoll, Limitless, Myriad, Manifold

Polymarket and Kalshi helped turn prediction markets into a mainstream trading category, but neither platform fits every trader. Access varies by country, market selection can lean heavily toward certain topics, and the tools available for entering, managing, and automating positions differ sharply across platforms. The strongest alternatives are not identical copies. Some emerging prediction markets platforms focus on professional order controls, some concentrate on fast crypto and financial markets, and others use onchain infrastructure or play-money forecasting. Users unfamiliar with...

How to Get a Funded Crypto Trading Account in 2026 Step by Step

A funded crypto trading account gives a trader access to more notional capital after they prove they can follow a firm’s risk rules. The usual route starts with a paid crypto prop firm challenge that requires a profit target without breaching daily or overall loss limits. Passing is not only about making money. Drawdown control, minimum trading days and rule compliance determine whether the account survives. The evaluation fee can be lost, and crypto prop firms use different account models,...

How To Trade Tokenized Stock Perps: Leverage, Funding And Risks

Tokenized stock perps allow traders to take long or short exposure to companies, ETFs and equity indexes through crypto-native derivatives markets. Positions can use stablecoin collateral, remain open without an expiry date and continue trading when the main stock exchange is closed. The trader receives price exposure, not ownership of the referenced shares. The interface often looks identical to a crypto perpetual futures market. The risk does not. A stock-linked contract can remain active overnight, through weekends and during holidays...

Circle has agreed to acquire Singapore-based payments infrastructure company Tazapay for $400 million, bringing a business processing more than $25 billion in annualized payments into the USDC issuer’s global settlement network. The $400 million transaction will be paid in Circle Class A common stock, with the final share count based on Circle’s volume-weighted average closing price during the 20 trading days preceding completion. Adjustments will account for Tazapay debt, transaction expenses and cash. Tazapay Brings $25B in Payment Volume Tazapay...

Orionx Shuts Down After $7M Crypto Custody Shortfall

Chilean cryptocurrency exchange Orionx has begun permanently closing its operations after a forensic audit identified more than $7 million in custodial assets that had moved to wallets outside the company’s control. Withdrawals are temporarily suspended while Orionx reconciles customer balances and implements a five-stage closure and asset-restitution process. Full repayment is not guaranteed, with available assets expected to be distributed under equal and proportional treatment rather than allowing earlier withdrawals to receive priority. Bitcoin Accounts for Most of the Confirmed...

Trezor ShipMonk Breach Expands to 67,000 More U.S. Customers

Trezor has expanded the scope of its ShipMonk data breach after discovering that personal information belonging to approximately 67,000 additional U.S. customers was exposed from orders dating back as far as 2019. The newly identified customers ordered Trezor devices between November 2019 and August 2021. Exposed records include names, email addresses, phone numbers, shipping addresses and order numbers, substantially widening an incident initially believed to be limited largely to recent purchases. ShipMonk Retained Data Trezor Expected Deleted The discovery conflicts...

FBI Seizes $560K in Hamas-Linked Crypto and Takes Control of Fundraising Infrastructure

U.S. authorities have seized more than $560,000 in cryptocurrency tied to Hamas fundraising campaigns while taking control of websites and servers used to solicit donations and communicate with supporters. The operation combined more than $560,000 in court-authorized crypto seizures with infrastructure actions spanning March 2025 through August 2026. Three cryptocurrency seizure warrants were executed in March, June and October 2025, followed by additional operations against online infrastructure in July and August this year. FBI Traced Donations Across Wallets and Bridges...