Tether in Action: Over 1800 Wallets Frozen Across 45 Countries in Criminal Crackdown

In its move against financial fraud, Tether worked with 180 agencies from 45 countries in freezing the wallets and recovering over $1.86 billion in assets during the operation.

As the business works to establish credibility in the cryptocurrency and financial industries, Tether has been vocal in highlighting its commitment to compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) laws.  Apart from adherence initiatives, Tether also promotes its support for law enforcement across the globe, claiming it has worked with agencies on several well-known instances, including helping to recover money connected to cybercrime operations like the hacking collective Lazarus Group, based in North Korea.

Tether says its main competitor Circle (which issues USDC) only freezes wallets in response to judicial orders. Nevertheless, the stablecoin provider claims that wallets will be frozen as required by collaborating with law enforcement agencies.

According to Tether’s statement, if Circle had frozen the wallets in the same way it has done on the Ethereum blockchain, they would have blocked $219 million in USDC from being transferred from fraud-linked wallets. Of the $219 million, Tether says that $96 million was connected to the August 2021 Poly Network hack. Additionally, it says that the hacker returned the stolen money as a result of its “timely freezing of stolen USDT.”

Earlier this month, Tether declared that it was forming a Financial Crime Unit in collaboration with TRON and blockchain intelligence company TRM Labs. Tron founder Justin Sun said on X that the collaboration aims to ensure that “blockchain technology is used to make our world a better place and sends a clear message that illicit activity is not welcome in our industry.” Sun remains charged by the SEC in the US, however, with multiple counts of violating the antifraud provisions of the Securities Act.

In other Tether news, the property status of Tether’s USDT stablecoin was recently decided by the UK High Court which has acknowleded that USDT is a type of property. Deputy Judge Farnhill’s decision made clear that Tether is entitled to property rights under British law, just like any other asset that can be tracked down and is vulnerable to trust claims.  This ruling is consistent with earlier legal interpretations regarding digital currency as property.

The judge also cited a 2019 decision from the same court, which upheld the definition of cryptocurrencies as property, but that case did not go to trial. The findings are consistent with the 2023 report of the England and Wales Law Commission, which likewise categorized digital assets as property.