Tether has taken action by freezing a Tron (TRX) wallet with over 28 million USDT tokens suspected to be involved in criminal activities like money laundering and fraud. The wallet linked to the Cambodian company Huione Group has been blacklisted by Tether, containing $28.25 million in USDT.
According to a real-time observation account for Tron and Ethereum stablecoins, the address TNVaKW was blacklisted by Tether on July 13. This move comes after Bitrace, a blockchain security firm, identified the frozen wallet as connected to Huione Group’s Guarantee business, which was activated on July 9.
Bitrace’s analysis revealed that Huione Group attempted to bypass the freeze by transferring $114,800 in USDC from the frozen TNVaKW wallet to a new address, TQuFSv. Despite Tether’s actions, other business addresses of Huione, such as the old address TL8TBp, are still operational.
Furthermore, Elliptic, a crypto-tracing firm, reported on July 10 about Huione Guarantee’s involvement in fraudulent activities, specifically pig-butchering scams. The online marketplace operated by Huione Guarantee has become a central location for scam operations in Southeast Asia, with criminal transactions totaling over $11 billion.
Elliptic’s investigation revealed that the Cambodia-based company serves as a deposit and escrow service for peer-to-peer transactions on platforms like Telegram, mainly using Tether’s USDT stablecoin. This has made it a preferred choice for scammers and money launderers. The firm also alleged that Huione Guarantee has ties to Cambodia’s ruling family, including Prime Minister Hun Manet.
In response to these findings, law enforcement and blockchain analysts are actively working to disrupt Huione’s operations by tracking crypto transactions and identifying wallets associated with the platform. The recent freeze by Tether underscores the ongoing efforts to combat crypto-related fraud and the complex network of financial crimes facilitated by seemingly legitimate crypto platforms.