In Cambodia’s ‘underground’ crypto economy, Tether becomes coin of choice for Chinese-linked activities
While currency exchanges in Phnom Penh also offer legitimate trading and a daily workaround to China’s onerous currency controls for the city’s Chinese community, Tether’s role in Cambodia’s vast dark economy is now falling under increasing scrutiny.Playing dirty: China faces off with increasingly sophisticated money launderersIn November, the US Department of Justice seized nearly US$9 million in assets it traced to more than 70 victims of online scams, after conducting an investigation of crypto wallets with Tether Holdings, the company behind USDT, and the crypto trading platform OKX. Tether said it froze an additional US$225 million tied to ‘pig butchering’ cyber scams in Southeast Asia.The US government and Tether did not specify where they traced the assets to, or who might be hol...