An Artist Lost a $2 Million Crypto Nest Egg in Coinbase’s Hack

After spending nearly two decades as a fabricator in the art world, helping construct elaborate creations like Jeff Koons’ series of Balloon Dog sculptures, Ed Suman decided to try his hand at something new: cryptocurrency investing.

Suman started buying in 2017, eventually amassing a nest egg that included 17.5 Bitcoin and 225 Ether, tokens worth more than $2 million these days. The stash represented a significant portion of his retirement savings.

Then earlier this year, he lost it all.

Suman was one of the victims scammed by a person posing as a customer-support representative for Coinbase, the largest US crypto ...