Tether's $45 Million Crackdown Drives Xinbi into Decentralized Stablecoin
Tether has cracked down on Xinbi Guarantee, freezing over $45 million in USDT across at least 22 operational addresses linked to the sanctioned marketplace. This move targets a network already under government scrutiny, with the UK having identified Xinbi as a major Chinese-language crypto marketplace and money-laundering hub serving Southeast Asian scam compounds.
The action not only immobilized assets already sitting in known addresses but also disrupted Xinbi's ability to move money by targeting recently used deposit, intermediary, and withdrawal addresses, as well as outgoing hot wallets operated by Xinbi payment service Xpay. This suggests that Tether aimed to disrupt Xinbi's operations rather than just freezing its assets.
Xinbi responded by activating new operational addresses, but these replacements provided only a brief escape. The newly activated wallets were frozen again on the evening of Sept. 8, less than 12 hours after the initial action.