USDT Recognized as a Means of Fraud by the UN: Report

The United Nations has officially recognized Tether USD (USDT), a stablecoin backed to the United States dollar in a 1:1 ratio, as a means of fraud and scams in the Southeast Asian region. 

This statement comes at a time when regulators around the world are working on establishing a framework for stablecoins and digital assets. 

USDT Used by Scammers

The UN stated that the largest stablecoin by market capitalization has been extensively used in underground fraud, including romantic scams known as “pig butchering.” 

“Online gambling platforms, especially those operating illegally, have emerged as among the most popular vehicles for cryptocurrency-based money launderers, particularly for those using Tether,” the UN report said, as per the Financial Times.

Disruption of Multiple Scams by Authorities

The report from the United Nations gave examples of how regulatory authorities in the Southeast Asian region have initiated crackdowns on multiple money laundering networks that engaged in illicit transfers of USDT tokens. 

Recently, Tether aided the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to disrupt the activities of an international human trafficking group in Southeast Asia responsible for a pig-butchering scam. The agency froze around $25 million in USDT stablecoins. 

Tether’s Alliance with US Authorities

As recently reported by TheCoinRise, Tether teamed up with United States authorities, detailing its “commitment to security and close working relationships with law enforcement.”

The firm also froze 41 accounts linked to a special sanction list published by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) over the laundering of about $7 billion. 

Expansion Outside USDT

Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino stated recently that his firm is expanding into the Bitcoin mining business. The executive stated that the location of the sites is somewhere in the South American region. However, he plainly denied that he would not reveal it because of security concerns.