Tether Pushes Back on UN Crypto Crime Report, Calls for Blockchain Education

Major stablecoin issuer Tether rebutted a recent United Nations (UN) report highlighting the use of its USDT stablecoin in illicit financial activity.

In a blog post, Tether touted the transparency of blockchain transactions and its assistance to global law authorities while criticizing the analysis as overly narrow.

The UN report centered on stablecoins, presenting money laundering and terror financing vulnerabilities that require global coordination. However, Tether argued that USDT transactions occur on public blockchains, enabling tracking that surpasses traditional banking.

• Tether claims UN conclusions ignore USDT’s traceable nature and the platform’s law enforcement cooperation, freezing over $300 million in assets.
• The company says the UN should have discussed how centralized stablecoins can augment anti-financial crime instead of solely focusing on risks.
• The blog post invites the UN to engage in productive blockchain education to achieve its intended oversight goals.

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“The UN’s analysis ignores the traceability of Tether tokens and the proven record Tether has of collaborating with law enforcement,” the blog post stated. In addition, Tether highlighted its partnerships with agencies, including the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to stop the criminal use of crypto.

Tether reminds the UN of its collaboration with law enforcement

This includes developing monitoring tools with the blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. Additionally, the company essentially positioned itself as an ally to global authorities through measures like user identification and suspicious activity reporting.

However, Tether argued the UN conclusions betray a lack of understanding of blockchain fundamentals. In response, the firm extended an invitation to brief UN officials about gaining practical knowledge that can unlock mutually beneficial collaboration.

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“Encouraging a proactive approach to learning and being educated on blockchain is essential for fostering a more informed and productive environment,” per the Tether blog. It also offered to aid in the development of modern strategies to fight financial crime by leveraging crypto transaction visibility.

As the dominant stablecoin issuer, it stated that the team remains steadfast in promoting transparency and accountability.