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Alliance of Tron, Tether, TRM Labs Freezes 126 Million USDT in Dirty Money

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With the rapid development of the crypto market, stablecoins of projects such as Tron and Tether have also become tools used by criminals to launder money and carry out illegal transactions.

An anti-crime coalition formed by leading crypto companies has frozen more than 100 million USDT in an effort to prevent criminals from operating on their networks.

The T3 Financial Crime Unit (T3 FCU), led by Tether, Tron and TRM Labs, is working directly with law enforcement agencies around the world to identify and prevent criminal networks.

Their goal is to ensure bad entities cannot take advantage of stablecoins like Tether to launder illicit money.

T3 FCU's ability to work closely with global law enforcement to increase the effectiveness of deterring cybercriminals using USDT on TRON is proof that public-private cooperation can work effectively.
Chris Janczewski, head of global investigations at TRM Labs, speaks

T3 FCU has tracked over 3 billion USDT in trading volume since August 2024, analyzing millions of transactions worldwide. To date, the group says it has coordinated with local law enforcement agencies to freeze about $126 million in crypto assets.

Stablecoins, which are backed and tied to the value of another asset such as the dollar, are being used by millions of people around the world to protect against inflation, send remittances and make peer-to-peer transactions. However, bad entities often use this type of token as well.

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Crime prevention organization T3 FCU has frozen more than $126 million. Source: TRMLabs
 

The report from blockchain data firm Chainalysis shows that between 2022 and 2023, illegal stablecoin transactions amounted to about $40 billion.

At the same time, an increasing number of stablecoin transactions are being flagged by law enforcement agencies and NGOs as being linked to financial fraud activities, such as money laundering and evading sanctions.

According to a 2024 UN report, USDT transactions on Tron's TRC-20 protocol are considered the preferred choice of criminals. However, Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, has denied the allegations and stressed that his team is working to prevent crime on the blockchain.

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The UNICEF report also claims that TRC-20 is the blockchain most commonly used by criminals. Source: UNODC

Earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. prosecutors were investigating Tether on suspicion of violating anti-money laundering laws and international sanctions.

However, Tether's CEO, Paolo Ardoino, has repeatedly asserted that these allegations are unfounded and completely denies their authenticity.