News ·

U.S. Government Moving BTC and ETH relating to Wanpadet Sae-Heng of Thailand

US Government controlled addresses are moving $10M of BTC and ETH relating to the confiscated funds from Wanpadet Sae-Heng of Thailand.

US Government controlled addresses are moving funds again, this time relating to the confiscated funds from Wanpadet Sae-Heng of Thailand. Last night, 97.3 BTC or $8.46M worth was transferred to a fresh address, bc1qs, after passing through another address, bc1q7. Shortly after, 884.3 ETH or $1.77M worth  was transferred out to 0xBf7, another fresh Ethereum address.

On-chain movements from government-controlled wallets are closely watched by the market. These transfers, while procedural, often lead to speculation about whether the government is preparing to liquidate or auction the seized assets.

The US Government entity on Arkham
The US Government entity on Arkham

The assets were seized from a Binance account belonging to Sae-Heng, in relation to a “pig-butchering” investment fraud scheme. A "pig butchering" scam is a long-term fraud where scammers build trust with victims online, often through romance or friendship, before manipulating them into investing in fake cryptocurrency schemes, ultimately "slaughtering" them financially. While the bulk of the seized assets comprise BTC and ETH, it is reported to also include assets such as Dogecoin and Cardano as well. 

The seizure of these funds highlights the increasing efforts by law enforcement to trace and recover illicit proceeds from complex crypto-related crimes. The inclusion of various assets like Dogecoin and Cardano shows that these scams are not limited to just Bitcoin or Ethereum.

The $8.46M transfer of BTC to the new addresses
The $8.46M transfer of BTC to the new addresses

Arkham

The Arkham Research Team comprises analysts and engineers who worked at Tesla, Meta, and Apple, alongside alumni from the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, UC Berkeley, and other institutions.

More from Arkham