TRON, Tether and Chainalysis Launch Task Force to Target Illicit USDT

TRON, Tether and Chainalysis announced Nov. 12 a standing Digital Crime Task Force to find and disrupt illicit activity involving Tether's USDT on TRON, aiming to give law enforcement time to act before funds move.

The group plans to identify suspicious activity through its own monitoring, share intelligence with law enforcement and respond to agency tips and requests to freeze tokens. That gives the effort two ways to start an investigation: a lead found by its partners or a referral from authorities. Its stated goal is to shorten the time between detecting suspicious activity and taking action.

TRON provides visibility into activity on its network. Chainalysis contributes investigators, blockchain intelligence and artificial-intelligence tools, while Tether can freeze USDT as its issuer. TRON hosts a supply of USDT worth more than $88 billion.

Scam operations with on-chain links to AI vendors averaged about $3.2 million in proceeds in 2025, 4.5 times the average for operations without those links. Identity-impersonation scam cases rose more than 1,400% in 2025 from 2024. Those figures describe broader scam activity, not results from the new task force.

TRON DAO had previewed a follow-on effort after T3 Financial Crime Unit ended operations in late August. The announcement gives more detail on the post-T3 effort TRON DAO previewed. TRON, Tether and TRM Labs formed T3 in Sept. 2024, and Binance joined later. T3 focused on tracing and freezing USDT tied to illicit activity on TRON.

T3 froze more than $450 million in USDT tied to illicit activity and worked with law enforcement in 23 jurisdictions across five continents. T3 could complete a freeze within 24 hours of an agency request. Chainalysis will supply investigative intelligence for the new task force, after TRM Labs handled that work within T3.