The US is moving to seize around $12 billion in Bitcoin from Prince Group, a Cambodian-based pig butchering operation. It’s also applying massive sanctions to the Huione Group for facilitating money laundering.
If Treasury can acquire and gain ownership of these assets, it could substantially boost Trump’s Strategic Reserve. However, many defrauded Americans may attempt to reclaim their stolen money.
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More Bitcoin For The US Government
Pig butchering scams were already a huge problem before 2025’s unprecedented crypto crime wave, but escalating fraud is making all these problems much larger.
One recent incident shows the scale of these incidents, as the Treasury is moving to seize $12 billion in Bitcoin from a long-running scheme:
The Treasury also released a statement on this pig butchering operation, although it does not directly address the effort to seize these bitcoins.
It claimed that a multinational investigation targeted the Prince Group, a Cambodian-based crime ring. By 2024, this group apparently stole at least $10 billion from US citizens.
Additionally, the Treasury finalized its efforts to sever the Huione Group from the US financial system, due to its history of facilitating money laundering.
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Private crypto firms have levied restrictions upon the Cambodian financial conglomerate, but the US government is making a major escalation here.
Some reports suggest these funds could actually be linked to the biggest crypto hack till date involving LuBian mining pool.
Strategic Reserve Implications?
The Prince Group’s operations were truly frightening, including human trafficking, torture, sexual exploitation, and more. Treasury’s report details all these unseemly aspects, which may be too lurid for our coverage.
However, as far as the crypto community is concerned, there’s one crucial point to realize. If the Treasury can successfully seize this Bitcoin, it could be a huge windfall for Trump’s planned Strategic Reserve.
Specifically, the administration has run into a major problem: it custodies huge quantities of seized bitcoins, but it doesn’t have legal ownership. It can’t exactly put these assets into a Strategic Reserve if it’s legally obligated to return them to the actual fraud victims.
There may be an opportunity here, depending on a few things. If the Treasury can acquire these assets, $12 billion is a huge windfall. If even a tiny fraction of initial theft victims fail to pursue reimbursement, this Bitcoin may be up for grabs.
In short, there are many factors in the air right now. The US may fail to seize these bitcoins, or a huge chunk may simply return to their initial owners. If, however, it can retain a few billion dollars’ worth, this could make a Bitcoin Reserve truly formidable.
Source: https://beincrypto.com/us-bitcoin-seizure-cambodia-crypto-scam/