Tron, Tether and blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis announced on Thursday the formation of the Digital Crime Task Force. The group aims to identify and disrupt illicit activity involving Tether’s USDT stablecoin on the Tron network by combining on-chain data, artificial intelligence tools and closer coordination with law enforcement.

The initiative seeks to reduce the time between detection of suspicious transfers and the freezing of funds before they can be moved further. Chainalysis will supply investigative data and AI capabilities to flag potentially criminal wallets. Tether, as the issuer of USDT, retains the ability to freeze tokens at identified addresses. Tron provides the underlying blockchain network on which a large volume of USDT transactions occurs.

Focus on Scams, Hacks and Organized Crime

The task force will address a range of threats. These include investment and romance scams, cryptocurrency theft linked to exchange hacks, terrorist financing, cyber operations attributed to North Korea, and money laundering associated with cartels. Additional areas of attention listed in the announcement cover drug trafficking and related illicit flows.

Tether Chief Executive Paolo Ardoino stated that criminals are using artificial intelligence to operate at greater speed, making victim reports alone insufficient. He noted that Tether has frozen more than $7 billion connected to illicit activity while cooperating with more than 360 law enforcement agencies across 73 countries.

Tron founder Justin Sun framed the effort around everyday users of the stablecoin. He said millions of people rely on USDT on Tron to support families, sustain businesses and pursue financial security, and that protective mechanisms must keep pace with the growth of digital finance.

Replacement for Previous Industry Unit

The new alliance follows the end of the T3 Financial Crime Unit. That earlier partnership, formed in 2024 by Tron, Tether and analytics firm TRM Labs, was reported to have disbanded in late August. Sources cited coordination difficulties and slow responses as contributing factors. T3 had previously reported freezing more than $450 million while working with authorities in multiple jurisdictions.

Tether indicated it would continue certain forms of cooperation with TRM Labs through other channels, including information-sharing arrangements. Chainalysis and Tether already maintained a separate monitoring relationship established in 2024 to identify potentially suspicious USDT transactions.

Rising Role of AI in Crypto Scams

Chainalysis research cited in connection with the launch found that AI-enabled scam operations generated 4.5 times more revenue per scheme in 2025 than those without identified links to AI providers. Average receipts for AI-linked operations reached approximately $3.2 million, compared with $719,000 for other schemes examined. Impersonation scam inflows rose more than 1,400 percent year over year, according to the same analysis.

Such schemes often involve fraudsters posing as legitimate businesses, advisers or officials to persuade victims to transfer cryptocurrency. The task force is positioned to detect related activity on Tron at an earlier stage and to generate leads for investigators.

USDT on Tron in Recent Incidents

USDT transferred on Tron has featured in several high-profile cases. After the Bybit exchange breach in 2025, stolen funds were converted into USDT on Tron before being cashed out through certain over-the-counter services. In the large-scale Binance incident in late October, portions of the proceeds moved into USDT on Tron; Tether subsequently froze remaining balances linked to the theft within a short window.

Separate analysis of casino inflows in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, a location associated with scam compounds, showed that USDT on Tron accounted for nearly all of more than $1 billion received by a group of casinos over a nine-month period in 2026. A substantial share of those flows involved entities tied to sanctioned networks. Low transaction fees and high liquidity on the network have been cited as factors supporting its use in such activity.

Tether has also carried out targeted freezes in other cases, including addresses linked to certain marketplaces and wallets associated with sanctioned groups. The company has reported returning portions of frozen funds to victims or authorities through token reissuance in fraud and theft matters.

The Digital Crime Task Force will accept tips and freeze requests from law enforcement in addition to conducting its own proactive monitoring. No specific new freezes or case outcomes were announced at the time of the launch.