$544M in Cryptocurrency Frozen by Tether in Turkish Illegal Gambling Crackdown
The stablecoin issuer reports collaborating with authorities in more than 1,800 investigations spanning 62 nations, resulting in the freezing of $3.4 billion in USDT linked to allegedly criminal operations.
At the request of law enforcement officials in Turkey, Tether has blocked more than half a billion dollars worth of digital assets connected to what authorities describe as an illegal online gambling and money-laundering scheme.
Prosecutors based in Istanbul revealed last week that they had successfully seized assets valued at approximately €460 million ($544 million) belonging to Veysel Sahin, who stands accused of running illegal betting websites and laundering the resulting profits. While officials initially withheld the identity of the cryptocurrency company that facilitated the seizure, Tether Holdings SA—the entity behind the $185 billion USDt (USDT) stablecoin—was confirmed as the firm involved by CEO Paolo Ardoino in a statement to Bloomberg.
"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," Ardoino reportedly said. "And that's what we do when we work with the DOJ, when we work with the FBI, you name it," he added.
This enforcement action represents one component of a wider investigation into underground gambling operations and illicit payment networks operating throughout the country. Through connected investigations, Turkish authorities have already confiscated more than $1 billion worth of assets, according to Bloomberg.
Tether, Circle blacklist 5,700 wallets
Data from analytics firm Elliptic indicates that by the end of 2025, issuers of stablecoins—predominantly Tether and Circle—had placed approximately 5,700 wallets on their blacklists, containing roughly $2.5 billion in total value. Around three-quarters of these addresses contained USDT when they were subjected to freezing measures.
In its statement to Bloomberg, Tether additionally disclosed that the company has provided assistance to law enforcement agencies in over 1,800 separate investigations conducted across 62 different countries, leading to the freezing of $3.4 billion worth of USDT associated with purported illegal activities.
Notwithstanding this cooperative relationship with authorities, USDt remains subject to significant scrutiny. Last month, prosecutors in the United States filed charges against a Venezuelan national for allegedly laundering $1 billion, with the token serving as the primary vehicle for the operation, while researchers analyzing blockchain data have identified substantial USDt transactions connected to efforts to evade international sanctions.
During the previous year, Bitrace published findings indicating that $649 billion worth of stablecoins, representing approximately 5.14% of aggregate stablecoin transaction volume, passed through blockchain addresses classified as high-risk throughout 2024, with Tron-based USDt comprising more than 70% of this activity.
Tether's USDT hits $187B market cap
According to reporting by Cointelegraph, Tether's USDt achieved an all-time high market capitalization of $187.3 billion during the fourth quarter of 2025, experiencing growth of $12.4 billion even as the broader cryptocurrency market faced a downturn following October's liquidation cascade. During the same period when USDt registered significant expansion, competing stablecoins faced challenges, with Circle's USDC (USDC) concluding the quarter with minimal change and Ethena's USDe experiencing a decline of approximately 57% in its total value.
Utilization across networks also experienced substantial increases. The number of monthly active wallets holding USDt rose to 24.8 million, constituting roughly 70% of all addresses containing stablecoins, while transfer volume for the quarter climbed to $4.4 trillion distributed across 2.2 billion individual transactions, establishing new records for onchain activity.