Tether Holds Half‑Billion Dollars Over Turkish Betting Case

Turkey’s prosecutors have confiscated about €460 million ($544 million) in cryptocurrency linked to a suspected illegal online betting and money‑laundering scheme. The seized funds trace back to Tether Holdings SA, the issuer of the $185 billion USDT stablecoin.

Tether’s Cooperation

Tether’s CEO stated that the company acted on information supplied by Turkish law‑enforcement and complied with local laws—a stance consistent with its dealings with agencies such as the DOJ or FBI.

Broader Turkish Crackdown

• The move is part of a wider Turkish effort against underground gambling and payment networks.
• Over $1 billion has already been seized globally in this crackdown.

Analytics on Blacklisted Wallets

• Elliptic reports that by the end of 2025, Tether and Circle will have blacklisted around 5 700 wallets holding about $2.5 billion, with most addresses using USDT.

Global Impact of Tether

• Assisted authorities in 1 800+ investigations across 62 countries, leading to $3.4 billion in USDT tied to alleged crime.
• Despite cooperation, the stablecoin remains under scrutiny:
• U.S. prosecutors charged a Venezuelan national with laundering $1 billion mainly through USDT.
• Researchers link large USDT movements to sanctions evasion.

Stablecoin Flow Through High‑Risk Addresses

• In 2024, Bitrace noted that $649 billion in stablecoins—just over 5% of total stablecoin volume—flowed through high‑risk addresses.
• Tron‑based USDT accounted for more than 70% of that activity.

Market Milestones

• Tether’s market cap reached a record $187 billion in late 2025, growing by $12.4 billion amid a broader crypto downturn triggered by October’s liquidation cascade.
• Monthly active USDT wallets climbed to 24.8 million, about 70% of all stablecoin holders.
• Quarterly transfer volume hit $4.4 trillion across 2.2 billion transactions, setting new on‑chain records.