How to request an exchange to freeze stolen assets?

Can you ask an exchange to freeze stolen assets yourself?

Yes — a user can contact a cryptocurrency exchange directly and request a temporary freeze of stolen assets that were sent to a deposit address on that platform. A few things you need to know first:

An exchange will not freeze funds based solely on your description of the incident. The exchange needs to see that the destination address is already flagged in the AML analytics it uses — otherwise the request gets deprioritized or ignored. If the exchange doesn't use the AML provider where you submitted the marking, it simply doesn't see the risk signal.

This is why initiating the marking through Match Systems is more effective: we maintain integrations with dozens of exchanges, OTC desks, payment services, explorers, and analytics platforms — so the flag reaches the feeds the target exchange actually pulls from.

What a freeze request to an exchange must include

To give a compliance team real grounds to act fast, the request has to be structured. Minimum contents:

• Correct contact channel. Each exchange has a dedicated compliance/law-enforcement address or portal for this — don't send it to general support.
• Incident details:
  • Attacker's wallet address.
  • Transaction hash(es).
  • Date and time of the transfer (UTC).
  • A short summary of the incident.
  • A formal request to freeze the associated funds.

Prefer not to do this alone?

Our team contacts the exchange on your behalf: we pass over verified marking data, a structured incident report, and the supporting analytics. With that in hand, compliance teams have what they need to act — which significantly improves the chance that the funds get frozen before withdrawal.