Tether freezes $39.3 million USDT linked to Xinbi Guarantee

Tether has frozen approximately 39.27 million USDT on ten TRON addresses linked to Xinbi Guarantee, an escrow platform that operates via Telegram. That is according to blockchain analysis firm MistTrack. The action follows earlier freezes of funds connected to Huione, another controversial Telegram platform, and appears to be part of a series of measures against illegal escrow services.

In brief:

• Tether freezes over $39.3 million USDT spread across ten TRON addresses.
• The addresses were linked by MistTrack to Xinbi Guarantee, a Telegram-operated escrow service.
• The freeze follows an earlier action against Huione-linked funds.

MistTrack identifies ten addresses

MistTrack published an overview of the ten TRON addresses covered by the freeze. The largest address (TWPma8xH48AEN93x2krdukV9e1j6sPsBeS) had a USDT balance of more than 10.7 million. Several other addresses contained balances of around 8 million USDT, while two addresses contained only 1 USDT.

MistTrack’s transaction analysis shows that the central address, labelled Xinbi Guarantee, received payments from at least 675 senders. Transactions to other Xinbi Guarantee addresses are also visible, including a transfer of 6 million USDT.

Second major freeze in a short period

According to MistTrack, this involves a similar approach to the earlier freeze of Huione-linked funds. Xinbi Guarantee and Huione are both described as escrow platforms active on Telegram and associated with illegal financial flows.

Tether has the authority to freeze USDT on the TRON blockchain when addresses are linked to fraud or other illegal activities. The stablecoin issuer says it uses this regularly in cooperation with law enforcement agencies. Earlier, we reported on a hack in which 26,414 USDT was stolen, which shows that monitoring of USDT flows is receiving increasing attention.