Coinbase Scammer Gambled at Crypto Casinos, Bought Rolexes
Posted on: June 23, 2025, 05:01h.
Last updated on: June 23, 2025, 05:01h.
- Investigator reveals culprit allegedly stole $4 million in Coinbase scam
- Bad actor gambled away some of the money at crypto casinos
- He also bought luxury items, including Rolex watches
Christian “Daytwo” Nieves, allegedly the architect of a $4 million fraud enterprise that bilked investors out of their digital currency, gambled away most of those ill-gotten proceeds at cryptocurrency casinos, according to a detail expose posted by an onchain investigator.
In a Monday X thread, ZachXBT highlighted how Nieves, ran a social engineering scam where he and his underlings called victims posing as employees of Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange operator in the US. Nieves and his staff would convince the victims to open Coinbase accounts to protect their cryptocurrency, but in reality, the alleged criminals were steering investors to phishing sites. That allowed them to gain access to private keys, paving the way for them to steal digital assets while leaving the victims with no recourse.
One of the biggest losses incurred through the Nieves plot was suffered by a senior citizen last November when Nieves employee by the name of Justin, also known as “Paranoia,” pilfered $240,000 from that person.
ZachXBT says those illicit proceeds were split three ways with some of the capital directed to the Roobet crypto casino with the rest being funneled into Monero (XMR), a digital currency. Like other crypto casinos, Roobet isn’t licensed or regulated in the US. It’s also prohibited from operating in other large industrialized gaming markets such as Australia and Canada.
Coinbase Scammer Did Bad Job of Hiding His Tracks
As is the case with so many financial flimflam artists, Nieves couldn’t help himself and let his ego get in the way of covering his tracks. Not only did he record some of his wagering activity on Roobet, where he’s known by the username “pawsonhips,” he posted pictures on social media of luxury items, including Rolexes, he purchased with some of the ill-gotten gains.
ZachXBT adds that his investigation unearthed evidence that Nieves’ Roobet deposit address links onchain to more than 30 suspected thefts.
I expect there’s many additional victims I am unable to directly link. While there’s potentially overlap between multiple threat actors the vast majority of activity pertains to Daytwo,” notes the investigator.
Perhaps compelling Nieves to execute financial scams is thirst for betting, which in the opinion of ZachXBT is borderline addictive. That would add Nieves to a long-list of alleged criminals that have perpetrated crimes to fund their wagering habits.
“Daytwo has a gambling problem and you’ll see onchain how casino deposits get smaller as he loses funds. Recently this escalated to the point where he started stealing cuts from accomplices,” observes ZachXBT.
Monero Use Could Tip Off Nieves Criminal Activity
By market capitalization, Monero is merely the 22nd-largest cryptocurrency, but it’s believed to be a favorite of bad actors transacting in digital currencies because, unlike Bitcoin, the Monero blockchain obfuscates details such as recipient and sender addresses as well as the amount sent. That is to say it’s no small feat that ZachXBT was able to trace Daytwo’s ties to the Coinbase fraud.
To be fair to Monero and its supporters, its purpose is not to facilitate or hide criminal activity. It’s gained traction among crypto users largely because of its privacy protocols, which are best realized when the end user is tight with security — something that Nieves arguably wasn’t.
However, the cryptocurrency’s ties to crime and the Dark Web have drawn regulatory scrutiny in some regions while prompting some exchanges to delist it. There’s speculation that due to various exchanges no longer listing Monero that has forced bad actors operating in black markets to return to Bitcoin.
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