Tether has also previously said it had blocked wallets linked to human trafficking, and “terrorism and warfare” in Israel and Ukraine.
By Reuters February 27, 2026, 6: 21: 54 PM IST (Published)
2 Min Read
El Salvador-based stablecoin issuer Tether said it has frozen about $4.2 billion of its crypto tokens over links to “illicit activity”, mostly in the past three years, as authorities around the world try to crack down on crypto-related crime.
The world’s largest stablecoin company, which has more than $180 billion of its dollar-pegged token in circulation, up from around $70 billion three years ago, is able to remotely freeze its tokens held in users’ crypto wallets when asked to do so by law enforcement.
Tether said this week it had helped the US Justice Department freeze nearly $61 million worth of its tokens, called USDT, which were linked to “pig-butchering”, a form of fraud in which scammers form a personal relationship with their victims.
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That brought its total frozen assets linked to illicit activity to $4.2 billion, of which $3.5 billion has been frozen since