UN Taps Tether to Battle Crypto Scams and Human Trafficking

Tether has partnered with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to strengthen cybersecurity and combat digital asset fraud across Africa, Papua New Guinea, and other vulnerable regions.

The collaboration, announced on Friday, will fund victim protection programs, youth education initiatives, and blockchain-based solutions to reduce exploitation and build community resilience against organized crime.

According to Chainalysis, Africa has emerged as the third-fastest-growing crypto region with over $205 billion in transaction volume between July 2024 and June 2025, while simultaneously becoming a prime target for scams and trafficking operations.

A recent Interpol investigation referenced by Tether uncovered $260 million in illicit crypto and fiat flows across the continent.

Protecting Victims While Educating Future Innovators

The partnership will support UNODC’s Strategic Vision for Africa 2030, focusing on three core initiatives across multiple countries.

In Senegal, Tether will fund a multi-phase cybersecurity education program for youth, including bootcamp sessions led by the Plan B Foundation (a joint project between Tether and the City of Lugano), followed by coaching, mentorship, and micro-grants to help participants develop their ideas.

Across six African nations, including Nigeria, DRC, Malawi, Ethiopia, and Uganda, the initiative will fund civil society organizations providing direct assistance to human trafficking victims.

In Papua New Guinea, Tether will work with local universities to raise awareness about financial inclusion and digital asset fraud prevention through student competitions focused on blockchain solutions for crime prevention.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the partnership combines innovation and education to create safer opportunities for vulnerable communities.

“Through our collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, we’re backing initiatives that combine innovation and education to empower communities and help create safer, more inclusive opportunities for those who need them most,” Ardoino said.

UNODC Regional Representative for West and Central Africa Sylvie Bertrand described the collaboration as a tripartite effort “bringing together the United Nations, the private sector, and Senegalese authorities, to support the vision behind Senegal’s Digital New Deal,” while promoting secure digital ecosystems and preventing organized crime.

From Enforcement Partner to Development Ally

The partnership marks a shift in Tether’s relationship with UN agencies, moving from primarily enforcement-focused coordination to proactive development work.

Between 2023 and 2025, Tether froze $3.3 billion across 7,268 wallet addresses while working with over 275 law enforcement agencies in 59 jurisdictions, according to blockchain forensics firm AMLBot.

The company’s enforcement model included burning seized tokens and reissuing clean replacements to victims, processing up to $2.7 billion in stolen funds.

Major actions included freezing $130 million in July 2024, with $30 million linked to Cambodia’s Huione Group, a platform that processed over $24 billion in suspected criminal crypto flows since 2021 and operated unlicensed exchanges, identity fraud services, and its own stablecoin.

The UN has previously warned that organized crime groups increasingly use stablecoins, particularly USDT on low-cost networks like Tron, to fund terrorism, human trafficking, and fraud operations across Southeast Asia and beyond.

A 2024 UNODC report estimated scams originating from East and Southeast Asia generated losses between $18 billion and $37 billion in 2023 alone, with much of that activity denominated in USDT.

Criminal networks have exploited the cryptocurrency’s liquidity and global reach to facilitate illicit online gambling, identity theft operations, and sophisticated pig butchering scams that manipulate victims through false romantic connections before extracting large sums.

The new partnership also comes as broader crypto security threats persist, with December seeing $76 million in losses from hacks and exploits, down 60% from November’s $194 million.

A single address poisoning scam accounted for $50 million of December’s losses, while social engineering attacks continue targeting users across major platforms, including recent incidents at Betterment and widespread wallet drains across Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible networks.

While the new partnership focuses on prevention and education rather than enforcement, it builds on Tether’s infrastructure developments, including the recent launch of Rumble Wallet (a self-custodial crypto wallet supporting USDT, Bitcoin, and Tether Gold) and its $8 million investment in Speed, a Bitcoin Lightning Network payments company.

Earlier this week, the company also introduced Scudo, a new unit for Tether Gold designed to make gold-backed digital assets more accessible for everyday transactions.