Tether has frozen $5.2 million in USDT-USD to combat phishing operations, targeting 12 Ethereum (ETH-USD) addresses linked to illicit activities. They’ve frozen approximately $5.2 million in USDT, targeting crypto phishing operations in a bid to combat illicit financial activities.
Details of the Freeze
Crypto compliance platform MistTrack was the first to break the news. They detailed that 12 Ethereum addresses linked to phishing operations were hit. These addresses, now tagged as “USDT Banned Address,” were identified as part of a larger scheme often associated with money laundering.
Phishing groups typically funnel their stolen assets to secondary platforms and use crypto mixers to hide their origins. But this time, Tether put a stop to it.
This isn’t Tether’s first rodeo in the crackdown arena. Last year, they teamed up with OKX to freeze over 225 million USDT spread across 37 wallets connected to a human trafficking network.
Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s newly minted CEO, reiterated this commitment. “Tether remains steadfast in its support of law enforcement efforts and in aiding victims in their recovery,” he stated. He made it clear that Tether has zero-tolerance policy for the misuse of USDT or any cryptocurrency for illegal activities.
Tether’s Role in the Fight Against Crypto Crime
Despite these efforts, Tether’s market dominance in the stablecoin market makes it a favorite tool for illicit transactions. According to TRM Labs, Tether was involved in $19.3 billion of illegal transactions in 2023. Although this amount decreased from $24.7 billion the previous year, it’s still a staggering amount.
TRM’s analysis showed that USDT on the Tron (TRX-USD) blockchain, which hosts a significant portion of stablecoin transactions, is especially favored by terrorist financing groups. The number of terror-financing-related addresses receiving USDT on Tron jumped by 125%.
In fact, TRON is such a cesspool that Circle’s USDC-USD, the second largest stablecoin by market cap, ended their support for USDC on Tron’s blockchain in February of this year. USDC holders on Tron have the option to transfer their USDC to other blockchains or exchange it for fiat. However, the minting of USDC on Tron’s blockchain has been stopped.
Is USDT a Buy?
According to TipRanks’ Summary of Technical Indicators, USDT is a Sell.
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