Tether Holds Half‑Billion Dollars Over Turkish Betting Case

Turkey’s prosecutors seized about €460 million ($544 million) in crypto linked to a suspected illegal online betting and money‑laundering scheme. The funds were traced back to Tether Holdings SA, the issuer of the $185 billion USDT stablecoin. Tether’s CEO said the company acted on information supplied by Turkish law‑enforcement and complied with local laws, a stance he has taken when dealing with agencies like the DOJ or FBI. This move is part of a wider Turkish crackdown on underground gambling and payment networks, which has already resulted in over $1 billion seized globally. Analytics firm Elliptic reports that by the end of 2025, Tether and Circle have blacklisted around 5 700 wallets holding about $2. 5 billion, with most of those addresses using USDT. Globally, Tether has helped authorities in 1 800+ investigations across 62 countries, leading to $3. 4 billion in USDT tied to alleged crime.Despite this cooperation, the stablecoin remains under scrutiny: U. S. prosecutors recently charged a Venezuelan national with laundering $1 billion mainly through USDT, and researchers have linked large USDT movements to sanctions evasion. In 2024, Bitrace noted that $649 billion in stablecoins—just over 5% of total stablecoin volume—flowed through high‑risk addresses, with Tron‑based USDT accounting for more than 70% of that activity. Meanwhile, 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, and quarterly transfer volume hit $4. 4 trillion across 2. 2 billion transactions, setting new on‑chain records.