Tether helped Turkish investigators by freezing half a billion dollars in crypto: report

Turkey is the latest country to get help in tackling crypto crime from stablecoin firm Tether, according to a news report.

The El Salvador-based digital asset giant helped Turkish authorities with a money laundering investigation by freezing over half a billion dollars in crypto, Bloomberg reported on Saturday, citing an interview with the firm’s CEO Paolo Ardoino.

Tether’s latest actions came after Turkish investigators last week announced that they had frozen €460 million ($543 million) in assets belonging to Veysel Sahin, who is accused of running illegal betting platforms.

Tether did respond to questions from DL News. Istanbul’s Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office was also contacted for comment but did not immediately respond.

On the run

Sahin is wanted by authorities for allegedly laundering the profits of his illegal online betting platforms, according to local media and Turkish feds.

He was first nabbed by authorities back in 2017, and has been on the run since fleeing Turkey in early 2024.

Istanbul’s Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said last week that it reached out to a “global company” to freeze Sahin’s assets but did not mention Tether.

More work with law enforcement

It isn’t the first time Tether, the company behind the most-traded cryptocurrency in the space, USDT, has come to the aid of law enforcement.

Tether’s USDT token is the backbone of the crypto economy, with a 24-hour trading volume of $135.6 billion, according to CoinGecko.

It has also — like many other digital assets — been used by criminals who want to move funds quickly and anonymously.

Tether in recent years has stepped up its cooperation with law enforcement. In 2023, it started freezing wallets connected with sanctioned entities on the Office of Foreign Assets Control Specially Designated Nationals List.

And it has also worked with crypto exchanges and law enforcement to freeze stolen tokens tied to pig butchering scams.

Tether says on its website that it works with over 310 law enforcement agencies in 62 countries and has assisted more than 1,800 cases.

The company can freeze assets by activating a function on the token’s smart contract to prevent specific wallet addresses from transferring or receiving tokens.

Mathew Di Salvo is a news correspondent with DL News. Got a tip? Email at [email protected].