UN Collaborates with Tether to Combat Cryptocurrency Scams and Human Trafficking

UN Collaborates with Tether to Combat Cryptocurrency Scams and Human Trafficking

Tether has joined forces with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to enhance cybersecurity measures and fight against digital asset fraud in Africa, Papua New Guinea, and other vulnerable regions.

This partnership, announced on Friday, aims to fund programs focused on victim protection, youth education, and blockchain-based solutions aimed at decreasing exploitation and fostering community resilience against organized crime.

According to Chainalysis, Africa has become the third fastest-growing region for cryptocurrency, accumulating over $205 billion in transactions between July 2024 and June 2025 while simultaneously becoming a significant target for scams and trafficking activities.

Tether UN Crypto Scams - Total Monthly Value Received by Sub-Saharan Africa Chart

A recent investigation by Interpol, as cited by Tether, revealed illicit crypto and fiat transactions amounting to $260 million across the continent.

Key Initiatives: Educating and Safeguarding Communities

The partnership will bolster UNODC’s Strategic Vision for Africa 2030, which concentrates on three primary initiatives across several countries.

In Senegal, Tether will sponsor a multi-phase cybersecurity education initiative for young people. This program includes bootcamp sessions organized by the Plan B Foundation—collaboration between Tether and the City of Lugano—followed by mentorship, coaching, and micro-grants aimed at nurturing participants' innovative ideas.

Across six African nations, including Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Ethiopia, and Uganda, the initiative will support civil society organizations providing direct aid to victims of human trafficking.

In Papua New Guinea, Tether will partner with local universities to increase awareness regarding financial inclusion and preventative measures against digital asset fraud through student-led competitions that focus on blockchain solutions for crime prevention.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino emphasized that this partnership merges innovation with education to create safer opportunities for at-risk communities. He stated, “Through our collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, we’re backing initiatives that combine innovation and education to empower communities and help create safer, more inclusive opportunities for those who need them most.”

Sylvie Bertrand, UNODC Regional Representative for West and Central Africa, characterized the collaboration as a tri-party effort that “brings together the United Nations, the private sector, and Senegalese authorities to support the vision behind Senegal’s Digital New Deal,” while promoting secure digital ecosystems and combating organized crime.

Transition from Enforcement to Development

This partnership signifies a new phase in Tether’s relationship with UN agencies, moving from a traditional enforcement role to proactive developmental efforts.

From 2023 to 2025, Tether froze $3.3 billion across 7,268 wallet addresses, cooperating with over 275 law enforcement agencies in 59 jurisdictions, as reported by blockchain forensics firm AMLBot.

Tether's enforcement activities have involved destroying seized tokens and issuing replacement tokens to victims, successfully processing up to $2.7 billion in stolen funds.

Notable measures included freezing $130 million in July 2024, with $30 million linked to Cambodia's Huione Group—a platform alleged to have processed over $24 billion in suspected criminal cryptocurrency flows since 2021 and operated unauthorized exchanges, identity fraud services, and its own stablecoin.

The UN has previously cautioned that organized crime groups increasingly utilize stablecoins, particularly USDT on low-cost networks like Tron, to finance terrorism, human trafficking, and fraud across Southeast Asia.

A 2024 UNODC report estimated that scams originating from East and Southeast Asia accounted for losses between $18 billion and $37 billion in 2023 alone, with much of that activity taking place in USDT.

Criminal networks have leveraged the liquidity and global reach of cryptocurrencies to facilitate illegal online gambling, identity theft, and sophisticated scams known as “pig butchering,” which manipulate victims through false romantic connections before extracting significant amounts of money.

This new partnership comes at a time when crypto security threats remain prevalent. In December, hacking and exploitation incidents resulted in $76 million in losses, a significant decrease from November’s $194 million.

One instance—a single address poisoning scam—accounted for $50 million of December’s losses, while social engineering attacks continue to pose risks to users, particularly across major platforms like Betterment, as well as widespread wallet drains on Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible networks.

Although the new collaboration emphasizes prevention and education rather than enforcement, it builds on Tether’s recent infrastructure advancements, including the launch of Rumble Wallet, a self-custodial crypto wallet that supports USDT, Bitcoin, and Tether Gold, in addition to an $8 million investment in Speed, a Bitcoin Lightning Network payments company.

Earlier this week, Tether also unveiled Scudo, a new unit for Tether Gold designed to make gold-backed digital assets more accessible for everyday transactions.