A crypto whale just dragged Coinbase into court over money the exchange is already sitting on. The plaintiff, identified as D.B. and based in Puerto Rico, filed suit in San Francisco federal court. The target is a pile of frozen crypto tied to a roughly $55 million DAI theft from August 2024.
Here’s the story as alleged. A fake login page targeting a DeFi Saver account gave the attacker wallet access. Out went about $55 million in DAI stablecoins. The filing calls the hack sophisticated, but also traceable through blockchain analysis. Sophisticated, sure. Invisible, no. The attack reportedly relied on the Inferno Drainer scam-as-a-service platform, whose use tripled in the first half of 2024.
A fake login page opened the door to $55 million in DAI. Sophisticated, sure. Invisible, no.
The complaint says the stolen funds moved through Tornado Cash before a portion landed in a Coinbase retail account. Blockchain security firm Zero Shadow traced the stolen funds to that account. That’s where the trail ended. Coinbase allegedly froze the account after being notified about the theft. By early December 2024, the assets were locked.
Freezing is not returning. Coinbase reportedly told the claimant a court order was required before it would release anything. Its stance centers on needing a legal determination of ownership. So the money sat. Months passed after the theft and the notice, and the exchange still hasn’t voluntarily handed anything back.
Now the whale wants that court order. The lawsuit names Coinbase and an unidentified John Doe defendant. Reported claims include unjust enrichment and restitution-related theories. The plaintiff asks the court to declare ownership of the specific frozen assets and to compel Coinbase to release them. The filing also seeks any profits Coinbase may have earned while holding the funds.
The suit came in May 2026. The theft happened in August 2024. That’s more than a year of waiting, and the case reads like a custody fight, not a recovery deal.
The property matters here. The complaint treats the funds as specific, traceable tokens, not a generic cash balance or an abstract damages claim. Reporting suggests the plaintiff wants the exact frozen assets back if ownership is established. Those assets remain frozen in a Coinbase retail account. Not a vague dollar figure. Actual DAI.
The dispute pits exchange compliance controls against theft recovery claims. Coinbase wants a judge to settle ownership. The plaintiff wants the money. Meanwhile, a retail account holds frozen funds that a whale says were stolen, and nobody gets to touch them until a court weighs in. Awkward doesn’t cover it. It also raises a blunt question about how exchanges should handle traced stolen assets. Courts, apparently, will have to answer it now.
Exchanges typically lean on continuous AML and KYC checks to flag suspicious deposits, and those compliance obligations help explain why Coinbase froze the account rather than simply returning the funds.
