Tron, Tether and Chainalysis launch task force to fight AI crypto scams

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Tron, Tether and blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis have launched a new crime-fighting partnership to track stolen cryptocurrency and help authorities freeze illicit funds as criminals increasingly use artificial intelligence in scams.

Summary

Tron, Tether and Chainalysis launched a joint task force targeting illicit USDT activity on Tron.
The initiative plans to track suspicious wallets and coordinate faster asset freezes with law enforcement.
The partnership follows the closure of T3, which previously involved Tron, Tether and TRM Labs.
Chainalysis estimated AI-enabled scams generated 4.5 times more revenue per operation during 2025 than alternatives.
Tether said it had frozen more than $7 billion tied to illicit cryptocurrency activity globally.

According to a November 12 statement shared with The Block, the initiative, called the Digital Crime Task Force, will focus on suspicious activity involving Tether’s USDT stablecoin on the Tron blockchain.

The partners plan to identify criminal wallets, share intelligence with law enforcement and help stop funds from moving before investigators can recover them. The announcement follows the closure of a previous crime-fighting partnership involving Tron, Tether and TRM Labs.

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Tron, Tether and Chainalysis form new crypto crime task force

The new task force brings together three companies with different roles in cryptocurrency transactions and investigations.

Chainalysis provides blockchain tracking and investigation tools, while Tron supplies the network on which many USDT transactions take place. Tether, as the stablecoin’s issuer, can freeze tokens held at identified addresses when taking enforcement action.

The companies said their priority is reducing the time between detecting suspicious transactions and taking action against wallets connected to criminal activity.

Investigators often need to follow stolen cryptocurrency through multiple transfers, exchanges and wallets. During that process, the funds may move beyond the reach of the companies initially tracking them.

Tron founder Justin Sun said the partnership would seek to protect people who rely on USDT for payments and other financial activities.

“Millions of people rely on USDT on Tron to support their families,” Sun said.

The planned work covers investment scams, romance fraud, exchange hacks, terrorist financing and cryptocurrency thefts attributed to North Korean hackers.

The companies have not announced specific new asset freezes or enforcement cases completed by the Digital Crime Task Force.

New alliance follows shutdown of T3 Financial Crime Unit

The announcement comes shortly after Tron and Tether ended their previous partnership with blockchain analytics company TRM Labs.

The three companies established the T3 Financial Crime Unit in September 2024 to identify and freeze cryptocurrency associated with suspected criminal activity.

In May, the initiative reported that it had frozen more than $450 million in illicit assets while cooperating with authorities across 23 jurisdictions.

Its investigations involved exchange hacks, terrorist financing, drug trafficking, kidnappings and other crimes.

However, Bloomberg reported on November 4 that the partnership had been dissolved following problems involving slow responses and coordination between members.

People familiar with the arrangement told Bloomberg that T3 ended in late August. Tron subsequently confirmed that the program had concluded.

A Tether spokesperson said the company would continue cooperating with TRM Labs through other initiatives, including the Beacon Network, which supports information sharing between companies and authorities.

The new partnership replaces TRM Labs with Chainalysis as the blockchain analytics participant in the three-company arrangement.

Tether and Chainalysis already had an established relationship, having announced a monitoring service in May 2024 designed to identify potentially suspicious USDT transactions.

Chainalysis reports AI scams generated 4.5 times more revenue

The launch follows research from Chainalysis showing that criminals increasingly use artificial intelligence to impersonate victims’ contacts, create fraudulent investment offers and operate scams.

In its 2026 Crypto Crime Report, the company estimated that AI-enabled scams generated 4.5 times more revenue per operation than scams without identified links to AI vendors in 2025.

Operations connected to AI providers received approximately $3.2 million each, compared with $719,000 for other schemes in the study.

The research further estimated that impersonation scam inflows increased by more than 1,400% year over year.

Such schemes can involve criminals posing as legitimate businesses, investment advisers or government officials to persuade victims to transfer cryptocurrency.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the speed of AI-assisted attacks requires quicker responses from companies and investigators.

“Criminals are using AI to move faster than ever,” Ardoino said.

He stated that Tether had already frozen more than $7 billion linked to illicit activity while working with over 360 law enforcement agencies in 73 countries.

Tether has frozen billions in USDT linked to crypto crime

Tether’s previous enforcement actions provide examples of how the company can restrict movement of tokens associated with suspected criminal activity.

In September, the issuer froze approximately $39.3 million across 10 Tron addresses linked to Xinbi Guarantee, a marketplace associated with suspected cryptocurrency fraud.

During July, Tether blocked USDT in 131 wallets connected to ISIS-K after US authorities added the addresses to sanctions records.

Chainalysis helped identify transaction activity associated with those wallets, which had received more than $1.4 million since 2023.

Following the October 29 Binance hack, Tether said it froze more than $1.5 billion in USDT linked to the theft, which US authorities attributed to North Korean hackers.

The company reported carrying out those restrictions within 30 minutes of the attack.

In a November 2 statement, Tether said its total freezes had exceeded $7 billion, with approximately $1.2 billion in funds associated with fraud and theft returned to owners or law enforcement through token reissuance.

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