Stablecoin issuer Tether has frozen $5.2M in USDT associated with phishing scams.
According to on-chain analytics firm SlowMist, Tether took the action after identifying the funds stored in 12 Ethereum (ETH) wallets tagged as USDT Banned Address. The addresses containing the frozen funds were exploited for money laundering purposes related to phishing scams.
In response, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino revealed in a recent announcement that the firm has blocked more than $1.3B since its inception, with roughly $1.6M tied to terrorist financing. The firm has cooperated with 24 law enforcement agencies across more than 40 countries. Over the past year, the company has addressed 198 requests from law enforcement agencies to block wallets.