Tether Freezes $500 Million in Assets Linked to Turkish Gambling Ring
Tether, the issuer of the world’s most generally traded stablecoin, has frozen greater than $500 million in digital belongings.
The funds are linked to a large unlawful playing and money-laundering syndicate in Turkey.
Tether Marks One of Crypto’s Largest Crackdowns
The freeze targets belongings reportedly owned by Veysel Sahin, a person Turkish prosecutors accuse of orchestrating a sprawling unlawful betting community.
Notably, this transfer marks one of many largest single-asset seizures in the cryptocurrency sector to date.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed the corporate’s function in the crackdown, emphasizing the agency’s growing cooperation with worldwide regulation enforcement.
“Law enforcement got here to us, they supplied some info, we seemed on the info and we acted in respect of the legal guidelines of the nation. And that’s what we do once we work with the DOJ, once we work with the FBI, you identify it,” he reportedly said.
Meanwhile, the enforcement motion highlights a big pivot for the British Virgin Islands-incorporated agency. Once criticized by regulators for a perceived lack of transparency, Tether has repositioned itself as a proactive accomplice to world police companies.
Earlier this 12 months, the corporate froze more than $180 million worth of its USDT token. In complete, Tether has now frozen greater than $3 billion in belongings since its inception.
With a circulating provide exceeding $187 billion, Tether’s USDT token serves as the primary source of liquidity for the worldwide cryptocurrency market. BeInCrypto beforehand reported that this asset serves more than 534 million users globally.
Its widespread use permits merchants to transfer funds rapidly between exchanges with out counting on conventional banking rails.
However, the pace and scale of latest interventions have dismantled the “censorship-resistant” status that after outlined the digital asset sector.
Beyond enforcement, Tether has been aggressively diversifying its USDT reserves over the previous 12 months.
The firm not too long ago introduced a $150 million funding in Gold.com, and a $100 million strategic funding in Anchorage Digital, America’s first federally regulated digital asset bank.
Meanwhile, these funding follows a record-breaking monetary 12 months for the stablecoin large.
Buoyed by $10 billion in 2025 profits, Tether has expanded its attain past stablecoins. The agency is now deploying capital throughout a various portfolio of internal initiatives, ranging from sports to Bitcoin mining, decentralized communications, and synthetic intelligence.
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