![[NEWS] Tether freezes assets of 32 addresses engaged in terrorist activities in Israel and Ukraine](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.microcms-assets.io%2Fassets%2F7819a9cf917e4bcd862bfa2ff5f14d24%2F8503c71e04454c49967252e0c81d4613%2Ftet1_2145331083.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
Tether, which develops and operates the US dollar-backed stablecoin USDT, announced on the 16th that it has frozen assets in 32 cryptocurrency wallet addresses related to terrorism and war in Israel and Ukraine.
The total assets in the targeted wallets are said to be equivalent to $873,118. Tether has not disclosed details such as when the addresses were frozen, but said it will work with the Israel National Counter-Terrorist Financing Task Force (NBCTF) to "combat terrorism and war funded by cryptocurrencies."
Israeli police announced last week that they had successfully frozen cryptocurrency accounts believed to be used to fund Hamas activities.
Paolo Ardoino, current CTO of Tether, who will become CEO of Tether in December this year, said, "We will use blockchain to take strong defense measures against cybercrime," and mentioned that the company will continue to work with law enforcement agencies to freeze assets related to criminal and terrorist activities.
Because cryptocurrency wallet addresses are highly anonymous, it can be difficult to trace the addresses behind transactions. However, Tether has developed technology to track addresses used for terrorist financing and war, and is said to be able to identify addresses.
Tether has previously frozen assets related to cybercrime, such as blockchain and cryptocurrency exchange hacking, totaling $835 million (approximately 125 billion yen).
Demand for cryptocurrencies has increased in Ukraine since Russia's military invasion, and more than $100 million in cryptocurrency donations were collected in Kiev. On the other hand, it has been pointed out that pro-Russian forces are using cryptocurrencies to raise funds in eastern Ukraine.
USDT's market capitalization is $83.7 billion (approximately 12.53 trillion yen), accounting for 67% of the total stablecoin market of $123.3 billion (approximately 18.45 trillion yen) at the time of writing.
Reference:Reuters
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