Tether freezes $450 million of illegal crypto; FATF deems it a valuable global law-enforcement resource

The T3 Financial Crime Unit (T3 FCU), jointly established by Tether, Tron, and TRM Labs, announced on May 15 that since its launch in September 2024, it has frozen more than $450 million in illegal digital assets, while continuing to expand law enforcement cooperation with 23 jurisdictions. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has recognized T3 FCU as a “valuable resource for global law enforcement.”

Operational Scale Confirmed and Cooperation Framework of T3 FCU

According to the figures confirmed in T3 FCU’s Thursday announcement:

Establishment time: September 2024 (less than two years ago)

Cumulative amount frozen: more than $450 million in illegal digital assets

Participating jurisdictions: 23, including the United States, Brazil, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom

Claimed speed of asset freezing: within 24 hours

Increment in 2025 interceptions: up nearly 44% year over 2024

Major law enforcement agencies in 2025: law enforcement departments in the United States, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Bulgaria

Confirmed Cooperation Cases and Crime Types

T3 FCU said that the crime types it helped investigate this year include drug trafficking, foreign exchange hacker attacks, terrorism financing, and activities related to North Korea, as well as violent crimes such as home invasions, kidnapping, and extortion. One confirmed major operation: assisting the Brazilian Federal Police with an investigation that ultimately froze more than 3 billion Brazilian reais in crypto assets.

In a statement, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said: “Compliance is not optional—it’s our commitment to protect users and stop any illegal activity. Tether is dedicated to working with regulators and relevant institutions to jointly improve the reliability and trustworthiness of blockchain technology.”

FATF Recognition and Confirmed Data on Global Illegal Crypto Activity

In its report earlier this year on public-private cooperation models to combat illegal activity involving digital assets, FATF explicitly recognized T3 FCU as a “valuable resource for global law enforcement agencies.”

According to TRM Labs data: global illegal cryptocurrency flows in 2025 reached a record $158 billion. According to a CertiK report: since 2016, North Korean hackers have stolen $6.75 billion worth of cryptocurrency through 263 incidents; CertiK estimates that the losses caused by North Korean hackers in 2025 were approximately $2.06 billion, accounting for about 60% of all crypto theft losses that year.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is T3 FCU, and what roles do its three member organizations take?

T3 FCU is a public-private partnership law enforcement unit jointly established in September 2024 by Tether (a stablecoin issuer), Tron (a blockchain network), and TRM Labs (a blockchain analytics company). Tether provides the technical capability to freeze USDT addresses, TRM Labs provides on-chain tracking and analysis tools, and the three coordinate with government law enforcement partners across 23 jurisdictions worldwide.

Has the full $450 million frozen by T3 FCU been recovered?

According to T3 FCU’s announcement, the frozen amount refers to illegal digital assets that have been frozen, not amounts that have been returned to victims or recovered. Freezing is a prerequisite step for investigations and judicial procedures, and the subsequent handling of specific assets depends on the legal procedures in each jurisdiction.

The record $158 billion in global illegal cryptocurrency in 2025 includes what types of activity?

TRM Labs’ data covers various illegal cryptocurrency flows, including scams, black-market transactions, hacker attacks, terrorism financing, and money laundering. CertiK’s supplementary data indicates that losses estimated to have been caused by North Korean hackers in 2025 were about $2.06 billion, accounting for 60% of that year’s total crypto theft losses.