Cryptoupdated 19m ago3 min read
Tron, Tether, and Chainalysis Launch Digital Crime Working Group To Freeze USDT On Tron
7outlets comparedWhere the coverage agrees
5 Western Alternative2 OtherThis article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Tron, Tether, and Chainalysis launched the Digital Crime Task Force to target illicit USDT on Tron. The group aims to identify, disrupt illicit transfers and enable faster freezing of funds.
Save coverage image
New task force announced
Tron, Tether, and Chainalysis announced the creation of the Digital Crime Working Group, a private-sector initiative meant to coordinate efforts to identify criminal networks and help authorities freeze suspicious assets before funds disappear. Tether said it has already frozen more than $7 billion linked to illicit activities in 73 countries, and the initiative will focus on illicit activity related to USDT on Tron with an emphasis on early detection. Chainalysis said AI is making cryptocurrency scams substantially more profitable and harder to combat, and the companies framed the effort as combining blockchain surveillance, investigative expertise, and cooperation with law enforcement.
Justin Sun, founder of Tron, said, “Millions of people rely on Tron’s USDT to keep their families fed, sustain their businesses, and build a safer future.” Paolo Ardoino, Tether CEO, added, “Tether has already frozen more than $7 billion linked to illicit activities, in collaboration with more than 360 police agencies in 73 countries.”
AI crime and prior unit
The Digital Crime Task Force is designed to shrink the gap between spotting illicit USDT flows on Tron and getting those funds frozen, and it aims to cut the time between detecting a threat and acting on it. Chainalysis said AI-enabled scam operations were 4.5 times more profitable than conventional operations in 2025, and it said identity theft scams grew more than 1,400% year over year. Cointelegraph reported that Bloomberg said the T3 Financial Crime Unit, formed by Tron and Tether with TRM Labs in 2024, disbanded in late August, and an unnamed source told Bloomberg that slow responses and poor coordination hampered the unit.
Paolo Ardoino told The Block, “Criminals are using AI to move faster than ever, and waiting for a victim to report a crime is no longer good enough,” and the statement said the task force will use blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis’ data and AI tools. The Block said the task force will focus on investment and romance scams, crypto theft, terrorist financing, and North Korean cyberattacks, while it also noted other crypto incidents in its broader coverage.
Targets and enforcement implications
The task force said it intends to investigate investment scams, romance scams, cryptocurrency thefts, terrorist financing, North Korean cyber operations, drug trafficking, and cartel money laundering.
TRM Labs reported that USDT on Tron accounted for 99.9% of the $1.07 billion in crypto received by 34 casinos in Sihanoukville from Jan. 1 to Sept. 7, and it said casinos tied to US-sanctioned networks received $687 million of those inflows.
Elliptic said that after the $1.5 billion Bybit hack in February 2025, stolen funds were converted to USDT on Tron and cashed out through suspected Chinese over-the-counter trading services, and Crystal Intelligence said hackers swapped approximately $234 million in USDT for TRX during the $6.3 billion Binance hack on Oct. 29.
The initiative also said it will accept reports and asset-freeze requests directly from law-enforcement agencies, and it aims to shorten the gap between detection and disruption of illicit activity.
Kim Yo Jong rejected the Binance attribution in a Nov. 3 statement carried by North Korean state media and cited Bybit as another case in which she said Washington tried to blame Pyongyang.