Secret Service Freezes $52.8M in Crypto Linked to Xinbi Telegram Scam Bazaar

What happened: The U.S. Secret Service froze $52.8 million in USDT across 52 wallets tied to Xinbi Guarantee and its merchants on September 8, 2026, following blockchain tracing by Elliptic. The U.S. Treasury's OFAC designated Xinbi a significant transnational criminal organization, and $12 million was seized outright under a DOJ warrant. Xinbi, which processed $24.2 billion since 2022, responded by shifting $2.8 million to Tron-based USDD to evade further freezes and called the action "arbitrary." Related entities in Singapore and Cambodia were also sanctioned.

Why it matters: This enforcement action underscores the growing sophistication of blockchain analytics and cross-border coordination against large-scale crypto-enabled scams. However, Xinbi's rapid shift to USDD—a stablecoin lacking Tether's freeze mechanism—highlights the cat-and-mouse dynamic between regulators and illicit actors. The incident also demonstrates the limitations of asset freezes in an ecosystem with multiple, non-interoperable stablecoins.

Source: Decrypt, Elliptic, The Hacker News