US DOJ restrains $52M in crypto with Tether’s help

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a coordinated enforcement action that restrained over $52 million in cryptocurrency tied to the Xinbi Guarantee scam network. The operation, described as a one‑day effort, involved the seizure of two wallets that had received roughly $12 million and the pursuit of restraint orders against 47 additional wallets suspected of money‑laundering activity.

Targeting Xinbi’s financial infrastructure

Xinbi Guarantee operates as a Chinese‑language marketplace that connects fraud groups with money‑laundering services, fake investment platforms, and recruiters involved in human‑trafficking. Rather than focusing on individual scams, the DOJ targeted the payment tools used by Xinbi vendors to advertise services, receive payments, and move proceeds through cryptocurrency wallets.

Tether’s role in the enforcement

Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, provided “proactive assistance” that allowed authorities to block specific tokens held at identified addresses. The company said it has cooperated with more than 340 law‑enforcement agencies across 67 countries, contributing to the freezing of over $5 billion in assets linked to illicit activity.

Scope of Xinbi’s activity

Blockchain intelligence firm Elliptic estimated that Xinbi processed at least $8.4 billion in transactions from 2022 to May 2025, rising to $21 billion by April 2026. The marketplace has been linked to money‑laundering, stolen‑data sales, fake investment schemes, and services used by human‑trafficking networks.

Broader enforcement context

The Xinbi action adds to a series of DOJ, FBI, Secret Service, and Treasury operations against overseas scam networks. Prior cases include a June 2025 civil forfeiture complaint involving $225.3 million in Tether tokens tied to “pig‑butchering” investment fraud, and Treasury’s designation of the Cambodia‑based Huione Group as a primary money‑laundering concern.

Implications for crypto users

Tether’s CEO Paolo Ardoino emphasized that using cryptocurrency does not place funds beyond the reach of investigators, noting that stablecoin infrastructure enables tracing and blocking of illicit transactions when wallets are identified.