Assisting Turkey in Freezing $1 Billion in Assets, Tether's Compliance Approach Has Changed
On January 30, Turkish authorities froze assets worth over $500 million belonging to Veysel Sahin, who is accused of operating an illegal gambling platform and money laundering. Tether Holdings SA, the issuer of the $185 billion stablecoin USDT, assisted in the freeze at the request of the Turkish government. This action is part of a broader Turkish operation that has frozen over $1 billion in assets.
Tether has increasingly collaborated with global law enforcement agencies to combat cryptocurrency-related crimes, including money laundering, drug trafficking, and sanctions evasion. According to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, the company follows legal procedures when working with authorities such as the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI.
Analysis by Elliptic shows that Tether and its competitor Circle have blacklisted around 5,700 wallets holding approximately $2.5 billion in assets, with three-quarters of these containing USDT. Tether claims to have assisted in over 1,800 cases across 62 countries, freezing $3.4 billion in USDT tied to illicit activities.
This marks a shift from Tether’s earlier tensions with U.S. regulators, including a 2021 settlement over misrepresenting reserves. The company has recently re-entered the U.S. market with a compliant stablecoin, USAT, and has gained regulatory acceptance under the Trump administration.
Despite these efforts, USDT remains under scrutiny for its use in criminal activities, including a recent case involving $1 billion in money laundering and reports of Iran’s central bank using USDT to evade sanctions.
marsbit02/09 12:18
