Tether and Tron Partner With Chainalysis Following T3 Crime Unit Collapse

Tron, Tether, and blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis formed the Digital Crime Task Force on Thursday to track and disrupt criminal operations using $USDT on the Tron blockchain ¹. The alliance deploys Chainalysis data and artificial intelligence tools to surface suspicious transactions, providing law enforcement agencies with investigative leads to freeze illicit proceeds ¹. The announcement follows the late August dissolution of the T3 Financial Crime Unit, a predecessor initiative launched by Tron and Tether alongside TRM Labs in 2024, which Bloomberg reported disbanded due to coordination issues and slow response times ¹.

The replacement unit focuses on detecting North Korean state-sponsored cyber operations, cartel money laundering, crypto thefts, terrorist financing, and targeted investment and romance scams ¹. Announcing the launch, Tether chief executive Paolo Ardoino stated that criminals increasingly leverage AI tools to accelerate transfers, adding that proactive detection must supersede post-incident victim reports ¹. Ardoino also noted that Tether has executed cumulative USDT asset freezes exceeding $7 billion to date ¹. At the time of writing, USDT traded at $0.9988, while Tron's native token ($TRX) changed hands at $0.3162.

Illicit Flows on the Tron Network

The initiative comes amid mounting scrutiny over illicit volume moving across Tron's low-fee rail ¹. TRM Labs reported that USDT on Tron represented 99.9% of the $1.07 billion in cryptocurrency sent to 34 casinos in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, between Jan. 1 and Sept. 7, with $687 million going to venues tied to US-sanctioned networks ¹. Blockchain investigators noted deep liquidity and negligible transaction fees make the network a preferred settlement layer in the region ¹.

Tron-based USDT also surfaced as a cash-out path in major state-linked exploits ¹. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic identified suspected Chinese over-the-counter trading services laundering proceeds from the $1.5 billion Bybit hack through Tron USDT in February 2025 ¹. More recently, following an exploit of Binance on Oct. 29, perpetrators swapped roughly $234 million in USDT for TRX before Tether moved to freeze the residual USDT across two associated wallets, according to Crystal Intelligence ¹. The Federal Bureau of Investigation attributed both incidents to North Korean actors ¹.