Tether has reportedly frozen a Tron (TRX) wallet containing more than $28 million in USDT tokens that it suspects are the proceeds of criminal activity, including money laundering and fraud.
On July 13, USDT/USDC Banlist, an account dedicated to real-time monitoring of Tron and Ethereum (ETH) stablecoins, reported that an address identified as TNVaKW was blacklisted by Tether and held $28.25 million worth of USDT. The wallet is said to be associated with Cambodian company Huione Group. Blockchain security firm Bitrace revealed in a July 14 post by X that the frozen wallet, activated on July 9, is associated with Huione Group’s guarantee business. Bitrace’s analysis further revealed that Huione attempted to circumvent the freeze by activating a new address, TQuFSv, and transferring $114,800 worth of USDC from the blacklisted TNVaKW wallet.
Despite Tether’s actions, other business addresses remain operational, including Huione’s old business address TL8TBp, according to Bitrace.
Huione Guarantee crypto scam links
On July 10, Elliptic, another prominent cryptocurrency tracking firm, reported that Huion Guarantee was involved in fraudulent activities, specifically pig slaughter scams. According to Elliptic, the online marketplace is a major hub for fraudulent activities in Southeast Asia and has been linked to criminal transactions totaling at least $11 billion.
Elliptic said the Cambodia-based company acts as a deposit and escrow service for peer-to-peer transactions on Telegram, primarily using Tether’s USDT stablecoin, making it a favored platform for scammers and money launderers. Additionally, the blockchain analytics firm claimed that Huong Guarantee has ties to Cambodia’s ruling family, including Prime Minister Hun Manet.
Following these revelations, law enforcement and blockchain analysts have stepped up efforts to disrupt Huione’s operations by tracking cryptocurrency transactions and identifying wallets linked to the platform.
The freeze on Tether underscores ongoing efforts to combat cryptocurrency-related fraud and complex webs of financial crimes facilitated by seemingly legitimate cryptocurrency platforms.