Tether news

Tether has frozen about $4.2 billion of USDT linked to illicit activity in the last three years, most since 2023 amid increased regulatory scrutiny. The firm helped the U.S. DOJ seize $61 million in pig‑butchering scams and, earlier this month, froze $544 million for an alleged illegal betting and money‑laundering operation per Turkish authorities. USDT supply dropped $1.5 billion in February, following a $1.2 billion decline in January—the largest monthly drop in three years, pointing to tighter market liquidity.

Telegram’s built‑in TON Wallet now offers “Vaults,” a self‑custodial DeFi tool that lets users earn variable returns on Bitcoin, Ether and USDT while keeping control of funds. The feature, powered by Morpho lending, TAC and Re7 strategies, appears in a simple wallet interface. Telegram aims to simplify DeFi, adding direct deposits for BTC and ETH in wrapped TON form and expanding merchant payment SDK TON Pay. The platform boasts over 150 million users and reported a 65 % revenue jump to $870 million in H1 2025, partly from Toncoin exclusivity deals.

Telegram’s self‑custodial wallet, TON Wallet, is rolling out on‑chain yield vaults for Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT. Partnerships with MorphO, TAC and Re7 enable strategies that can deliver up to 18% APY on USDT, with similar yield options for BTC and ETH. The launch seeks to broaden the TON ecosystem’s appeal by providing 150 million registered users access to DeFi protocols directly within the app, addressing prior momentum challenges and positioning the platform as a universal gateway to decentralized finance.

Tether announced a $200 million investment in the digital marketplace Whop, valuing the startup at $1.6 billion. The deal will embed Tether's wallet into Whop, letting users hold and pay with USDT and U.S.-focused USAT directly on the platform, and enabling creators to accept stablecoin payments globally without banks. Funds aim to expand Whop in Latin America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, adding DeFi lending and borrowing tools, while pushing Tether's $185 billion USDT into everyday online commerce.

Tether Investments has taken a stake in Whop.com, a $3bn annual payout marketplace, and will integrate Tether’s Wallet Development Kit to let creators settle in USDT or USAT. The move is aimed at speeding global payments and adding DeFi features like lending, boosting Whop’s expansion into LATAM, Europe, APAC and AI tools. The partnership follows Tether’s dominant stablecoin position, with USDT holding 62% of the $293bn market and the company reporting $122bn in Treasury reserves and $10bn net profit in 2025, while it plans to grow its workforce and further invest in interoperability and metals backing.

U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina seized more than $61 million in Tether (USDT) linked to money‑laundering activity from pig‑butchering investment scams. The operation was coordinated by the DOJ and Homeland Security Investigations, with Tether assisting in freezing and transferring the assets. The seizure is one of the largest single USDT confiscations tied to romance‑based crypto fraud in U.S. history and reflects the growing use of stablecoins by organized fraud networks. The case underscores the DOJ’s expanding track record of recovering crypto assets involved in transnational fraud.

U.S. federal agents in North Carolina seized more than $61 million worth of Tether (USDT) linked to a large‑scale ‘pig‑butchering’ crypto fraud scheme that preyed on victims through fake romantic relationships and fraudulent trading platforms. Investigators traced the money across multiple wallets and, with Tether’s cooperation, confiscated the remaining balances. The case comes amid a surge in crypto scams, with 2025 losses reaching $17 billion, and recent prosecutions imposing 20‑year sentences on key conspirators.

U.S. federal prosecutors seized more than $61 million in USDT tied to a pig‑butchering crypto romance scam in North Carolina. Homeland Security Investigations traced the stolen funds through a chain of wallets used to launder proceeds. Scammers forged fake relationships, promoted high‑return crypto strategies, then blocked withdrawals or demanded extra fees. The seizure follows a recent $400 million forfeiture linked to a darknet mixer.

Spain’s Bit2Me, the country’s largest crypto exchange, reported €5.3 billion in trading volume in 2025, up eight‑fold from 2023, as it pivots from a retail platform to infrastructure for banks and law enforcement. Its B2B revenue rose from 18 % to 27 % of total sales, and crypto‑backed loans grew 672 % in a single year, according to CFO Pablo Casadio. Backed by banks such as Bankinter, Unicaja and Cecabank, plus Telefónica and Tether, Bit2Me earned €25 million last year and secured its EU MiCA license after 3,000 hours of regulatory work. The firm now offers a wholesale‑API that lets institutions outsource crypto operations, processes seized crypto for Spain’s state, and is expanding into Portugal, Italy, France and Germany.

Standard Chartered warns that rising demand for stablecoins could boost U.S. Treasury bill demand by $0.8‑1 trillion by end‑2028; combined with Fed purchases could raise short‑term demand to $2.2 trillion. This may prompt Treasury to issue more T‑bills and cut long‑term bonds, potentially suspending 30‑year auctions for three years. Two‑thirds of the projected demand is expected from emerging‑market stablecoins, which could flatten the yield curve. Treasury could raise the T‑bill share by 2.5 % over three years, adding roughly $900 billion in supply to ease front‑end scarcity, while stablecoin market cap may reach $2 trillion by 2028.