Tether protests UN accusations that USDT is used in crime, claims blockchains are impractical for illegal use

Tether is pushing back against recent allegations from a United Nations agency that its stablecoin, USDT, is being widely used for money laundering and fraud in Asia.

In a new report, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) claims that criminals in East and Southeast Asia prefer using USDT on the Tron (TRON) blockchain due to its stability, convenience, anonymity and the low transaction costs.

The UNODC says fraudsters and money launderers tend to channel the USDT, the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, through online gambling platforms that often operate illegally.

As evidence of this, the UN report cites several examples, including Tether’s decision in November to freeze $225 million worth of USDT in certain Southeast Asian wallets after an investigation led by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) alleged that the addresses were linked to “pig-money-slaughtering” romance scams.

However, Tether argues that its cooperation with law enforcement is evidence to the contrary.

“Monitoring Tether tokens through our partnership with global law enforcement authorities including the DOJ, FBI and USSS (which recently came on board on the Tether platform) provides unparalleled monitoring and surpasses traditional banking systems that have been the instrument for decades for laundering significant amounts of money. This is evident from the fines imposed on them. Tether tokens, which use public blockchains, allow for close monitoring of every transaction, making it an impractical choice for illegal activities.”