300 bags, 28 watches, and 6 cold wallets—the range of items seized by Turkish police left me momentarily stunned. The individual detained is Richard Heart, founder of the Ethereum token project Hex, launched in 2019. He and his wife were detained in Istanbul on Wednesday, followed by three others identified by police as his bodyguards. Authorities searched 15 locations locally, reporting the seizure of approximately $7.15 million along with the aforementioned items, as well as jewelry, graphics cards, and firearms and ammunition; Turkey’s state news agency also reported that nine vehicles registered in Heart’s wife’s name were confiscated. I initially assumed that in this crypto-related case, all attention would center on the six cold wallets. But when placed alongside the findings from the 15 search locations, the 300 bags stood out as harder to overlook: what was laid before the police wasn’t just on-chain assets. The seizure of cold wallets does not equate to control over the funds within them. Finland previously issued a Red Notice for Heart over allegations of serious tax evasion and assault. The U.S. SEC’s lawsuit against him was dismissed in 2025 due to jurisdictional issues and has not been refiled; these two matters must not be conflated. Legal proceedings and the examination of seized items are still ongoing—I won’t speculate on the value of those six cold wallets yet.