Tron and Tether bring in Chainalysis for a new crime task force after their T3 unit with TRM Labs folded

Summary

Tron, Tether and Chainalysis on Thursday launched the Digital Crime Task Force to find and disrupt illicit USDT activity on the Tron blockchain, Cointelegraph and The Block reported.

The group will use Chainalysis data and AI tools to flag suspicious activity and give law enforcement leads to trace and freeze funds, according to the announcement cited by Cointelegraph.

It follows a Bloomberg report on Nov. 4 that the T3 Financial Crime Unit, which Tron and Tether formed with TRM Labs in 2024, disbanded in late August, with an unnamed source blaming slow responses and poor coordination.

Priorities include investment and romance scams, crypto theft, terrorist financing, North Korean cyber operations and cartel money laundering, Cointelegraph said.

Updates

• Update, Thu, 12 Nov 2026 17:55:00 UTC: Added Decrypt, which reports the new unit replaces the trio's earlier T3 task force built with TRM Labs.

Key facts

• Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino: 'Criminals are using AI to move faster than ever, and waiting for a victim to report a crime is no longer good enough.' He put Tether's cumulative USDT freezes at more than $7 billion. (Cointelegraph)
• Cointelegraph, citing TRM Labs: USDT on Tron made up 99.9% of the $1.07 billion in crypto received by 34 casinos in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, from Jan. 1 to Sept. 7. (Cointelegraph)
• Cointelegraph, citing Crystal Intelligence: during the Oct. 29 Binance hack, attackers swapped about $234 million in USDT for TRX before Tether froze the remaining USDT in two wallets. (Cointelegraph)
• The Block framed the alliance as aimed at AI-powered crypto crime. (The Block)
• Cointelegraph said Tether, Tron and TRM Labs did not respond to requests for comment by publication time. (Cointelegraph)
• Decrypt reports the new Digital Crime Task Force aims to trace illicit USDT on Tron and freeze funds before they move, and that it comes weeks after the trio's near-identical T3 unit, built with rival firm TRM Labs, quietly collapsed. (Decrypt)

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