An Ethereum whale is suing Coinbase for not returning $55 million stolen funds

BlockBeats News, May 6th - An anonymous crypto whale this month filed a lawsuit against Coinbase in the San Francisco federal court, accusing the exchange of refusing to return its funds stolen in 2024. The victim, hailing from Puerto Rico, reportedly lost over $55 million worth of DAI stablecoin in a phishing attack in August 2024. At that time, the hacker stole wallet control by mimicking a DeFi Saver login page, swiftly transferred the funds, and laundered them through a coin mixer service. The victim then hired multiple on-chain investigation firms to trace the funds, ultimately discovering that some of the stolen assets flowed into a Coinbase account. While the exchange froze the related funds in December 2024, it has since refused to return them, claiming that only a court order can unlock the funds.

The lawsuit emphasizes that Coinbase's initial freeze of the funds was justified, but it was unreasonable to withhold them after the victim provided sworn ownership proof. Coinbase has not yet publicly responded to the accusations.