Can stolen crypto be frozen? Yes. Here's how

Crypto moves fast, but it doesn't vanish. Sooner or later, scammers move stolen funds to places that can lock them. Once the money is frozen there, it can be returned to you.

Updated 9 November 2026

The short answer

Stolen crypto can be frozen when it reaches a company that controls it: a crypto exchange like Coinbase or Binance, the company behind a digital dollar like USDT or USDC, or a bank. These companies freeze funds when the right people bring them clear evidence. Getting that done, and fast, is the work.

Where stolen crypto can be frozen

1. 1. Crypto exchanges

   Sooner or later, most scammers try to turn crypto into cash, and that usually means an exchange such as Coinbase, Binance or Kraken. Exchanges know who owns each account and can lock it.

2. 2. Stablecoin companies

   Many scams use digital dollars like USDT or USDC. The companies behind them, Tether and Circle, can freeze those dollars wherever they sit, even outside an exchange.

3. 3. Banks and payment companies

   When stolen crypto is turned into regular money, the bank or payment company that receives it can hold it.

Who can get a freeze done

Exchanges and stablecoin companies receive a flood of requests, and they act on the ones that are well documented and come from people they trust: law enforcement, a court, or an investigator with a track record.

That's where recovery firms differ. Some hand you a report and leave the rest to you. Others take the evidence to the institutions holding your money and push them to act. We're in the second group. The institution carries out the freeze; our job is to make sure it happens, quickly.

• In August 2025, our findings led to a $5.6 million freeze in a single case. The funds are held by the U.S. Marshals pending a federal forfeiture case.
• We secured cooperation from a billion-dollar casino, banned in the U.S. and with no reason to help, to freeze a client's stolen funds, with no court order required.

Read more client stories

What happens after a freeze

A freeze stops the money from moving. The institution then releases it to you, usually once law enforcement or a court confirms who it belongs to. With us, recovery efforts start within a week of engaging our services and usually run around 60 days.

What you can do today

1. Stop sending money, even if you're told one more payment will release your funds.
2. Save everything: the receipts or transaction history from the app you used, the scammer's messages, and the website or app they gave you.
3. Contact the exchange or bank you sent the money from and tell them it was a scam.
4. Report it at ic3.gov, the FBI's fraud reporting site.
5. Get your funds traced as soon as you can, so the freeze request reaches the right place while the money is still there.

Be careful who you trust next: fake recovery services target people right after a scam. How to choose a legitimate recovery firm.

Common questions