French cooperative bank Crédit Mutuel Arkéa confirmed that an attacker gained access through a service provider's platform and used the bank's own account to initiate fraudulent transfers worth up to $133 million in USDC and USDT. The bank says the incident is now contained and that customer assets were not affected, though some transfers were delayed. It has also warned customers of heightened phishing risk following the breach.
bleepingcomputer.com
· 2026-11-07
Following the October 30 breach of Binance, Circle froze about $823 million in USDC tied to the stolen funds, while Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said Tether froze over 1.567 billion USDT linked to the attack, though some reports cite a lower figure of $975.1 million. Combined with other blockchain partners' freezes, roughly $2.4 billion was immobilized, separate from the approximately $3 billion Binance says is frozen on-chain across multiple assets.
techreport.com
· 2026-11-01
Chinese national Zhen Zhao, 44, was arraigned in California after being extradited from the Netherlands on charges tied to a cryptocurrency investment fraud scheme that stole nearly $37 million from 174 U.S. victims. Prosecutors say Zhao and accomplices in the U.S. and Cambodia ran fake trading websites and used Deltec Bank in the Bahamas to convert victim funds into Tether before routing them to scam centers in Cambodia. He was charged in August 2025 with conspiracy to commit money laundering and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
bleepingcomputer.com
· 2026-10-26
A Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations report led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal alleges Iran relies on Tether's USDT stablecoin as a key part of a 'shadow banking network' to bypass sanctions and finance terrorist proxies and military equipment purchases. The subcommittee examined 846 sanctioned crypto wallets tied to Iran and regional proxies, finding 84 percent used USDT almost exclusively, and it accuses Tether of inconsistently freezing flagged wallets before 2024. Tether responded that it has frozen nearly $550 million in USDT linked to Iran this year and denies USDT is a haven for sanctioned or criminal actors.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-29
In 2023, Poland's state-backed Orlen energy group tried to buy 6 million barrels of Venezuelan crude during a sanctions reprieve, hiring intermediary Hannon and UK firm Lexcor Energy to handle the deal in USDT stablecoin. Multiple currency-to-crypto conversions in Dubai went wrong, leaving tens of millions unaccounted for, and a representative who carried USB drives loaded with crypto wallets to Venezuela was reportedly defrauded by fake brokers posing as PDVSA officials.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-09-17
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