Tether-Led Crime Unit Hits $100M Milestone in Global Crypto Asset Seizures

On January 2, the T3 Financial Crime Unit (T3 FCU), a collaboration between Tether, Tron and TRM Labs, announced that it had passed “a significant milestone in its fight against cryptocurrency-related financial crimes.”

The unit, launched in August 2024, has worked closely with global law enforcement agencies to “successfully intervene in cases of money laundering, investment fraud, blackmail operations, terrorist financing and other serious financial crimes,” he stated.

Freezing of criminal assets

“By working closely with authorities in all jurisdictions, Tether has been instrumental in freezing criminal assets and ensuring bad actors don’t exploit stablecoins like USDT,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether.

“Criminals now have 100 million reasons to think twice before using TRON,” said Justin Sun, founder of the Tron network, who added:

“T3 FCU’s rapid success in freezing criminal assets sends an unmistakable message: If you use USDT on TRON for crime, you will get caught.”

T3 Financial Crimes Unit marks enforcement win: $100m in criminal assets frozen across five continents
Learn more: https://t.co/HReVLYRfxz

— Tether (@Tether_to) January 2, 2025

The T3 Financial Crimes Unit has already analyzed millions of transactions across five continents, monitoring more than 3 billion USDT in volume, according to the announcement.

Chris Janczewski, head of global research at TRM Labs, said that surpassing USDT 100 million in frozen assets is just the beginning.

“In 2025 and beyond, as more and more legal users enter the growing crypto ecosystem, it’s more important than ever to keep it secure. T3 is dedicated to that mission.”

Are Tether’s EU troubles about to deepen?

Tether’s market cap has begun to shrink for the first time since late 2022, having fallen by USDT3 billion from its peak of around $140 billion in mid-December.

The decrease in supply may be due to deepening concerns in Europe as its restrictive Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCA) regulations were activated, adding to uncertainty about the state of the ‘USDT on exchanges on the block.

The implementation of MiCA in Europe on December 30 has created an uncertain future for stablecoin issuers like Tether, as the regulations do not clarify whether it is USDT compliant.

However, Ardoino dismissed the concerns as FUD earlier this week as the company added $700 million in Bitcoin to its treasury. “Don’t believe the FUD,” he said before adding: “Competitors are desperate to make you believe things that aren’t there.”

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