Tether Freezes $29.62M USDT Addresses Linked to Cambodian Huione Group

Prominent stablecoin issuer Tether has frozen a TRON wallet, TNVaKW, containing $29.62 million in USDT tokens, suspected to be linked to criminal activities and crypto money laundering. This action took place yesterday, July 13, as highlighted by a dedicated handle on X announcing banned addresses.

Meanwhile, Bitrace, a leading provider of compliance and investigative tools for law enforcement agencies, has weighed in on the development, providing additional context to why the Tron wallet was blacklisted.

According to Bitrace’s analysis, the frozen address is linked to the guarantee business of the Cambodian Huione Group, which was activated on July 9, 2024. However, Huione is attempting to circumvent the freeze by activating a new business address, TQuFSv, and transferring $114,800 USDC from the frozen TNVaKW address.

Notably, Huione’s old related business address, TL8TBp, remains operational, and the company’s other guarantee and payment businesses have been active over the past six months, with none of the relevant addresses frozen.

Bitrace suggested that the reason behind the freeze is related to Huione’s involvement in laundering funds for criminal activities, including fraud and crypto theft. As a result, the platform has issued a warning to Web3 practitioners to remain vigilant about transaction risks when engaging in crypto payment businesses, emphasizing the importance of compliance and due diligence to avoid potential legal and financial repercussions.

Prior to this latest action on the TRON address, Tether had already frozen several other crypto wallets, including those on the Ethereum network. One of the most notable incidents occurred on May 8, when Tether announced the freezing of an Ethereum wallet holding a staggering $100,000,090.15 in USDT.