Tether, the issuer of the $185 billion USDT stablecoin, froze over $500 million at the request of Turkish authorities. The funds were tied to an alleged illegal online betting and money-laundering operation. CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed the action, stating the company cooperates with law enforcement globally. This comes as stablecoin issuers have blacklisted billions in allegedly illicit funds.
Tether has frozen more than $500 million in cryptocurrency following a request from Turkish authorities. The funds were connected to an alleged unlawful betting and money-laundering scheme operated by Veysel Sahin.
CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed his company was involved in the case. “Law enforcement came to us, they provided some information, we looked at the information and we acted in respect of the laws of the country,” he stated.
Ardoino noted this is standard procedure when working with agencies like the DOJ and FBI. The action was part of a broader Turkish investigation that has seized over $1 billion in assets.
According to analytics firm Elliptic, stablecoin issuers had blacklisted about 5,700 wallets containing roughly $2.5 billion by late 2025. Around three-quarters of those addresses held Tether’s USDT when frozen.
Tether also says it has assisted in over 1,800 investigations across 62 countries. This cooperation led to $3.4 billion in frozen USDT linked to alleged crimes.
Despite this, USDT continues to face scrutiny from law enforcement. US prosecutors recently charged a Venezuelan national with laundering $1 billion, largely using the token.
Last year, blockchain researchers reported that $649 billion in stablecoins flowed through high-risk addresses in 2024. Tron-based USDT accounted for more than 70% of this activity.
Meanwhile, Tether’s USDT reached a record $187.3 billion market capitalization in Q4 2025. It grew by $12.4 billion despite a broader crypto market downturn.
Network usage surged with monthly active USDT wallets climbing to 24.8 million. Quarterly transfer volume also rose to $4.4 trillion across 2.2 billion transactions.
