A combined effort by Tron, Tether, and TRM Labs has resulted in freezing more than $250 million in illegal cryptocurrency assets since the inception of their joint financial crime unit less than a year ago.
This success comes alongside the launch of a new initiative introducing Binance as the first member of the expanded T3+ program—aimed at strengthening collaboration across the crypto industry in fighting cybercrime.
The T3 Financial Crime Unit (T3 FCU), established in September 2024 as a public-private partnership, focuses on tracing and disrupting illicit blockchain transactions worldwide.
Remarkably, the frozen amount has more than doubled compared to the initial $100 million confiscated during the first six months post-launch in August 2024.
The unit actively collaborates with global law enforcement organizations, addressing crimes such as money laundering, investment fraud, blackmail, terrorism financing, and other financial offenses.
The T3+ program enhances this framework by involving exchanges, financial institutions, and other key industry participants to share intelligence and tackle threats swiftly and effectively.
Justin Sun, founder of Tron, emphasized that this collaboration broadens industry cooperation to tackle illicit activities in real-time.
Emerging Trend of Rapid Crypto Attacks Challenges Recovery Efforts
The expansion of T3 FCU comes at a time when cryptocurrency hacks have become quicker and more sophisticated.
Recent data from Global Ledger, a Swiss blockchain analytics firm, shows that over $3 billion in cryptocurrency was stolen in the first half of 2025 alone.
Notably, some thefts are laundered within minutes, with 30% being completed within 24 hours, and in nearly a quarter of cases, full laundering occurred even before public disclosure of the breaches.
The rapid movement of stolen funds has contributed to only 4.2% recovery of losses during this period.
Furthermore, approximately 15% of illicit crypto transactions have flowed through centralized exchanges, where compliance teams have a very limited window of 10 to 15 minutes to intercept suspicious activities before funds are lost.
Numerous attacks are attributed to state-sponsored hacking collectives, organized cybercrime networks, and cross-border fraud groups, complicating enforcement and asset recovery.
For instance, hackers recently claimed to infiltrate a significant North Korean cyber-espionage operation, revealing tactics targeting global cryptocurrency platforms, which highlights the growing threat from nation-state actors evolving alongside wider crypto-related criminal activities.
Controversy Surrounds Stablecoin Issuers and Exchanges Freezing Funds
Despite the unit’s successes and Binance’s partnership bolstering effectiveness, the practice of freezing funds by stablecoin issuers and centralized exchanges remains contentious.
Last month, Tether froze nearly $86,000 worth of stolen USDt tokens, sparking debate about centralized control within stablecoin ecosystems versus the community’s decentralized values.
Issuers have the rare ability to halt suspicious transactions at the smart contract level, crucial for intercepting stolen assets but raise concerns over user sovereignty and the foundational principles of decentralization.
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, argues that collective efforts are vital to create a safer and more trusted environment, affirming bad actors have limited places to hide on the blockchain.
