Elliptic believes that Telegram and the $USDT stablecoin issued by Tether have become key infrastructure components of global online fraud networks. According to the company, total losses from such schemes are expected to reach $442 billion by 2025.

In less than five months of 2026, the issuer of the largest stablecoin, $USDT — Tether — froze more than $1.4 billion worth of users’ $USDT assets. This is an absolute annual record and accounts for more than 25% of the total amount of frozen assets since 2017. The increase in frozen assets in recent years coincided with the creation in 2024 of the specialised organisation T3 (T3 FCU), formed by Tether, the Tron blockchain team, and analytics company TRM Labs.

The share of stablecoins in the crypto market remains high even during periods of Bitcoin growth. Traders are increasingly taking profits and choosing not to re-enter risk assets. Just a few years ago, stablecoins were primarily used as temporary instruments. Funds were converted into USDT or USDC before trades and then quickly moved back into the market.

Stablecoin issuers Tether ($USDT) and Circle ($USDC) have unblocked 498 wallet addresses holding more than $75 million in assets. According to USDTBanList, this marks the largest wave of stablecoin unfreezing activity since the beginning of 2026.

Tether, one of the largest stablecoin issuers in the world, has frozen $USDT worth approximately $515 million over the last 30 days in the Ethereum and Tron networks. According to data from the "$USDT Freeze Tracker" service provided by BlockSec, the company blocked access to assets belonging to hundreds of blocked wallet addresses.

Derivatives allow investors to gain exposure to major company stocks using Bitcoin and Ethereum as collateral. Cryptocurrency exchange OKX has announced the launch of 24/7 trading for perpetual contracts on stocks and indices, with the option to use cryptocurrencies as collateral. All contracts are denominated in the stablecoin USDT.

Circle’s $USDC share of stablecoin transaction volume rose to 71% in February, while Tether’s $USDT share fell to 28%, according to data from Visa’s analytics dashboard. In January, the ratio was also in favor of $USDC: 54% versus 45%. In March, the ratio is returning to January levels.

As liquidity growth resumes in the cryptocurrency market, a large-scale inflow of stablecoins to the Binance exchange has attracted attention. Analyst Amr Taha, who shared the data on the crypto analytics platform CryptoQuant, reported that more than $2.2 billion in Tether was deposited to the exchange in a single day. This marks the highest daily inflow since November last year.

According to their estimates, cartels and affiliated structures are integrating digital assets into financial schemes, bypassing traditional control mechanisms and expanding operations through couriers and freelancers.

In January 2026, demand for Tether’s USDT stablecoin declined significantly. This change has raised concerns among experts, as slower adoption of the asset could hinder further growth in Bitcoin’s price.

The issuer of Tether (USDT), the company Tether, freezes stablecoins far more often than Circle, the firm that issues USD Coin (USDC).

The USDT stablecoin on the Ethereum (ETH) network has reached an all-time high in a key metric — user activity. According to on-chain data, the 30-day simple moving average of active addresses has exceeded 200,000, setting a new record for the ERC-20 version of the stablecoin. This indicates a sharp increase in the number of participants using USDT for transfers, trading, and interactions with protocols.

According to JPMorgan analysts, the Circle USDC stablecoin is growing faster than Tether’s USDT in both on-chain activity and market capitalization, driven by clearer regulatory frameworks and increasing institutional adoption.

Over the past seven days, Tether’s USDT share of the crypto market has fallen by 8.4%. Many traders view this sharp decline as a bullish signal for altcoins.

The law enforcement operation was carried out in the second half of 2024. For confidentiality reasons, investigative actions were conducted without public statements.

Other

Since November last year, the stablecoin market has shown rapid growth, becoming one of the key indicators of the strengthening cryptocurrency sector. The total market capitalization of Tether (USDT) has increased from $120 billion to $164.5 billion, while Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) grew from $34 billion to $65.1 billion.