Crypto Account Subpoenaed, Frozen, or Seized by the Feds

Your exchange got a subpoena. Your account is frozen. Your crypto is gone. A former federal prosecutor explains the significance of each.

• My exchange emailed me to say it received a subpoena for my account.

• My account is frozen and nobody will tell me why.

• My crypto is gone, taken under a seizure warrant.

• A federal agent / AUSA contacted me about my crypto account.

While each of these carries a different legal significance, the bottom line is the same. An exchange, a bank, or the government has its hands (or eyes) on your money, and you don't know whether it's a routine inquiry, an honest mistake, or the first step toward charges. Any of those explanations is stressful when it is your account.

"An exchange told me it received a subpoena for my account"

Most of the time you will never know if an exchange has received government process for your account. Both state and federal authorities have the ability to obtain non-disclosure orders (law enforcement calls them NDOs). Under 18 U.S.C. § 2705(b), a court may order a provider "not to notify any other person of the existence of the warrant, subpoena, or court order." The court needs to find reason to believe that notice would endanger someone, cause flight, lead to destruction of evidence, result in witness intimidation, or otherwise "seriously jeopardiz[e] an investigation." So basically, all a prosecutor has to do is tell the court that notifying you will cause you to change your routine, act differently, use another account, etc. The bar is pretty low.