Get the latest tech news
‘Stablecoins’ Enabled $40 Billion in Crypto Crime Since 2022
A new report from Chainalysis finds that stablecoins like Tether, tied to the value of the US dollar, were used in the vast majority of crypto-based scam transactions and sanctions evasion in 2023.
The report describes Tether sent through the TRON blockchain-based payment network as the “preferred choice for regional cyberfraud operations and money launderers alike due to its stability and the ease, anonymity, and low fees of its transactions.” “Pig butchering” scams —cons in which scammers typically trick users into sending funds into fraudulent investments—consistently use Tether as the means of bilking victims, says Erin West, a deputy attorney general for California's Santa Clara County and a member of the REACT High Tech Task Force, who has long focused on crypto crime. West says that the high proportion of stablecoin use in sanctions evasion also represents a disturbing trend, given that it undermines a system meant to hold specific countries, individuals, and companies accountable for criminal behavior and violations of international law.
Or read this on Wired