Tether Freezes $28 Million in Suspected Criminal Proceeds on Tron Wallet

A Tron (TRX) wallet holding more than 28 million USDT tokens was recently frozen by Tether; the wallet is purportedly connected to illegal activities like fraud and money laundering. On July 13, Tether blacklisted the address TNVaKW, which had $28.25 million in USDT. This information was supplied by the USDT/USDC Ban List, a specialized account for tracking stablecoin activities.

It is believed that the wallet in question is associated with Huione Group, a business in Cambodia. The frozen wallet that was triggered on July 9 is associated with Huione Group’s Guarantee business, as per a post made on July 14 on X by blockchain security company Bitrace.

Attempts to Bypass Freeze and Ongoing Investigations

Bitrace’s analysis revealed that Huione attempted to circumvent the freeze by activating a new address, TQuFSv, and transferring $114,800 in USDC from the frozen TNVaKW wallet. Despite Tether’s freeze, other business addresses associated with Huione, such as the old address TL8TBp, remain active.

On July 10, Elliptic, a leading crypto-tracing firm, reported on Huione Guarantee’s involvement in fraudulent activities, notably pig-butchering scams. According to Elliptic, Huione Guarantee operates as a major hub for scam operations in Southeast Asia, linked to criminal transactions amounting to at least $11 billion.

Elliptic claimed that Huione Guarantee uses Tether’s USDT stablecoin primarily to act as an escrow and deposit facility for peer-to-peer transactions on Telegram. This made it a platform of choice for money launderers and scammers. The blockchain analysis company also asserted that Huione Guarantee had ties to the ruling Hun Manet family of Cambodia.

Law enforcement organizations and blockchain experts are working harder to take down Huione’s operations in reaction to these reports. They are keeping tabs on cryptocurrency trades and locating wallets connected to the network. The Tether freeze highlights these continued efforts to combat fraud pertaining to cryptocurrencies and the intricate network of financial crimes enabled by what appear to be trustworthy cryptocurrency platforms.