TechFlow reports that, according to Cointelegraph, on February 28, stablecoin issuer Tether froze approximately $4.2 billion worth of USDT tokens linked to suspicious criminal activities over the past three years.
The report states that the majority of the frozen funds were restricted starting in 2023, coinciding with heightened scrutiny by regulators and law enforcement agencies of cryptocurrency-related fraud and sanctions evasion. Tether can freeze tokens by blacklisting wallet addresses directly on the blockchain, as required by regulatory authorities.
This Tuesday, Tether announced its assistance to the U.S. Department of Justice in seizing nearly $61 million worth of USDT associated with “pig-butchering” scams. Earlier this month, the company also froze approximately $544 million in cryptocurrency at the request of Turkish authorities; these funds are allegedly tied to illegal online gambling and money laundering activities.
