US-based stablecoin issuer Tether Holdings SA has supported the freezing of approximately $544 million worth of cryptocurrencies in Turkey as part of an investigation into illegal gambling and money laundering.
The company also announced that it has cooperated with law enforcement in more than 1,800 cases across 62 countries to date, freezing a total of $3.4 billion in illicit $USDT.
On January 30, Turkish authorities announced the freezing of assets exceeding half a billion dollars belonging to Veysel Şahin, who is accused of operating illegal betting platforms and laundering criminal proceeds. The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office stated that an unnamed cryptocurrency company carried out the transaction at Turkey’s request. According to sources close to the matter, this company was Tether, the issuer of the $USDT stablecoin, which has a market capitalization of $185 billion.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino told Bloomberg News in an interview that law enforcement provided them with information and that they took the necessary steps within the framework of the laws of the country in question. “That’s exactly what we do when we work with the Department of Justice (DOJ) or the FBI,” Ardoino stated. The company declined to comment further on the case.
The freezing of $544 million worth of assets is seen as part of a broader operation in Turkey targeting illegal gambling and money laundering. Authorities say that assets totaling over $1 billion have been seized so far. Days after the announcement regarding Şahin, local media reported that approximately $500 million worth of crypto assets belonging to another suspect were also frozen. It is unclear whether this operation included Tether $USDT assets.
Authorities stated that they identified illicit gains by tracing the “financial trails” of suspicious income streams and conducting crypto asset analyses. An unnamed official said that similar seizure orders targeting illegal betting organizers and payment systems may be forthcoming.
For Tether, this development is the latest in a series of fund freezes on a global scale. According to an Elliptic report published in January, Tether and its competitor Circle Internet Group Inc. blacklisted approximately 5,700 wallets holding a total of $2.5 billion in assets by the end of 2025. It was noted that three-quarters of these wallets contained $USDT at the time of the freeze.
Arda Akartuna, Elliptic’s Asia-Pacific Crypto Threat Intelligence Leader, said that as legitimate adoption and global payment integration increase, so does illicit use, leading issuers to take more active action.
According to Turkish media, Veysel Şahin is accused of heading an organization that laundered the proceeds of illegal online betting platforms. Sentenced to 10 years and 6 months in prison in 2017, Şahin was released in 2023. However, a month later, he was reportedly sentenced to 21 years in prison. While Şahin’s current whereabouts are unknown, Anadolu Agency reported on January 30 that the extradition process to Turkey is ongoing.
*This is not investment advice.
