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- 1 Tether seized around $225 Million of its tokens linked to human trafficking.
- 2 The investigation was carried out jointly by Tether, OKX and the U.S Department of Justice (DOJ).
- 3 A report by Chainalysis highlights that Bitcoin transactions surged from $250 Million in 2012 to $870 Million in 2018.
Tether, a leading crypto firm, noted on November 20, 2023 that it froze around $225 Million worth of crypto assets which are believed to be linked with human trafficking groups of Southeast Asia.
Tether froze the assets on the suggestion of the U.S Secret Service after investigation efforts to track the origin of the assets. The investigation was carried out jointly by Tether, OKX and the U.S Department of Justice (DOJ).
Tether officials told Reuters that the suspected tokens were linked with an international human trafficking group in Southeast Asia that is majorly known for “Pig butchering” and “Romance scam”.
Pig butchering is a scam in which the scammer builds trust with their target using social media, dating applications and message software and then forces them to invest in bogus and ponzi crypto schemes.
Over thousand of humans are trafficked in a year and they are forced to carry out illegal and dangerous operations. As per Tether, the recent seizure is one of the largest seizures of its tokens.
However, Tether did not provide more details about the criminal groups and how they use crypto in their illegal business.
How Usage of Crypto Surging is in the Dark World
A United States Government Accountability Office report states that digital currency/virtual currency is the second most expected currency in 40 online sex trafficking platforms.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit has estimated that around 80 to 90 percent of overall sales on dark web is operated in virtual currency because of its feature of decentralization.
Several analysts claim that the recent Hamas attack over Israel was partly backed by virtual currency and somehow it was gathered with the help of dark web experts.
Over the past five years, the combination of an encrypted network hidden from most of the world and a transnational currency that is nearly untraceable by law enforcement officials resulted in the birth of a small but significant marketplace of illicit vendors selling illegal wares.
Chainalysis highlights in its findings that Bitcoin (BTC) transactions surged from $250 Million in 2012 to around $870 Million in 2018.
In 2022, there were many successful attacks against smart contracts resulting in almost $3 Billion USD in losses. A government-backed CBDC represents an extremely high-payoff target for a criminal, or even for a state-level group seeking to undermine the credibility of the financial system backing the CBDC.
As the demand of crypto is surging in the dark world, its prices are also responding bullishly. In the past few months, the entire crypto market has responded in a positive manner.
The leader of all cryptocurrencies crossed the much awaited resistance of $35k and when writing, it was trading at $37,189.85.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions stated by the author or any people named in this article are for informational ideas only and do not establish financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading crypto or stock comes with a risk of financial loss.