Tether Freezes $7K in Stolen USDT to Aid OPP Cyber Investigations Team

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) thanked stablecoin issuer Tether for its assistance in aiding an investigation by freezing approximately 10,000 Canadian dollars ($7,186) in Tether stablecoins stolen from an individual

Ontario Provincial Police thanked Tether for its help in an investigation by freezing about 10,000 Canadian dollars ($7,186) in Tether stablecoins that were stolen from a person and have since been returned to them.

Tether worked with the OPP’s Cyber Investigations Team to get the money back, and after the successful operation, Addison Hunter — detective staff sergeant of the OPP — said:

“This marks the first time that a stablecoin issuer has directly assisted OPP in recovering stolen cryptocurrency funds.”

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino also said that the company is committed to “supporting law enforcement efforts to combat cybercrime” and will keep working with law enforcement around the world to “hold bad actors accountable and, ultimately, support the victims.”

Ardoino’s statements are backed up by years of Tether working with law enforcement to freeze funds when state officials asked them to.

In July 2020, Tether blacklisted 39 Ethereum network addresses, which together held about $46 million in USDt USDT $1.00 .

At the time, industry executives described the asset freeze as a “precautionary” measure to help law enforcement fight illicit activities.

The stablecoin company later worked with crypto exchange Bitfinex to freeze more than $33 million USDt that was stolen in the September 2020 hack of the KuCoin exchange — which drained the popular exchange of about $200 million.

Tether went on to blacklist more addresses in January 2022 — freezing $150 million in USDt. No official reason was given for freezing the funds, and the stablecoin issuer blacklisted 312 different addresses during the previous year.

More recently, in December 2023, Tether announced a wallet freezing policy for individuals and entities sanctioned by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The new policy was enacted after U.S. lawmakers pressured the company to enforce sanctions and scrutinized the company for allegedly being a tool for terrorist organizations to launder money and obtain financing.