💵 Tether Under Fire: What's Behind the Bold Accusations?

Recently, The Wall Street Journal published yet another "exposé" aimed at Tether, the issuer of USDT, one of the most popular stablecoins in the crypto market.

Here are the key claims made in the article:

💵 Main Accusations:

◽️USDT creates a "parallel economy" beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement.

◽️Russia, Venezuela, and Iran use USDT to bypass sanctions and engage in shadow oil deals.

◽️Cryptocurrency is a primary tool for moving assets abroad and circumventing sanctions.

◽️Tether’s profits surpass those of giants like BlackRock, and USDT trading volume exceeds that of Visa.

◽️USDT helps Russian oligarchs evade sanctions when purchasing real estate and sanctioned goods.

But let’s take a closer look at what’s true and what may just be an attempt to paint cryptocurrency in a negative light.

💵 What's Wrong with These Accusations?

Tether actively fights against illegal activities by freezing suspicious accounts.

In 2023, the company blocked $225 million linked to human trafficking and froze $800,000 in an effort to disrupt criminal financial flows.

Moreover, actual statistics challenge many of the key claims in the article.

According to 2023 data, less than 0.6% of all illicit funds globally are transacted through cryptocurrency, with the majority still being laundered through traditional banks and cash.

Among cryptocurrencies, bitcoin (BTC) is the most commonly used for suspicious transactions, accounting for 40% of such activity.

Meanwhile, USDT, which has been under significant regulatory scrutiny, is involved in just 10%.

At the same time, Tether is posting record financial results.

Its $6.2 billion in profit surpasses the earnings of BlackRock, one of the world's largest investment firms, which earned $5.5 billion.

💵 Why Is This Happening?

It seems major financial players are unhappy with the growing popularity of cryptocurrency.

These "exposés" are likely just part of an ongoing effort to tarnish the reputation of digital assets and keep traditional financial systems afloat.

The numbers speak for themselves: Tether continues to grow and secure a leading position in the global economy, despite all the attacks in the media.

Satoshi Tweeted🔑

⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️

🗓 All the upcoming airdrops in TON that you can't miss!

▫️Lost Dogs (#WOOF) – today 🔥
▫️Catizen (#CATI) – September 20th
▫️Hamster Kombat (#HMSTR) – September 26th
▫️Cats (#CATS) – end of September (date TBA)
▫️Major of Telegram (#MAJOR) – October 1st
▫️TON Station (#SOON) – October 6th
▫️MemeFi (#MEMEFI) – October 9th
▫️X Empire (#EMPIRE) – October 15th
▫️Tapswap (#TAPS) – mid of October (date TBA)
▫️PocketFi (#SWITCH) – Q4 of 2024 (date TBA)
▫️Blum (#BLUM) – Q4 of 2024 (date TBA)

Save it not to lose! Any of the projects might become your life-changer.

📺Crypto TV📺

🟠 Why is Binance Rapidly Listing TON Ecosystem Tokens?

In recent weeks, Binance has added five tokens from the TON ecosystem to its listings.

This has sparked significant interest in the market.

Here are a few key factors that explain this phenomenon:

🟠 Support from Telegram and a Growing User Base

TON is closely tied to Telegram, which has an enormous user base.

Mini-apps within the TON ecosystem, such as Notcoin, Dogs, Hamster, and Catizen, attract millions of users.

For example, Hamster has already drawn over 250 million users, while Catizen reached 10 million within a few months.

🟠 Attracting New Users is a Top Priority for Exchanges

Exchanges like Binance, Bybit, and Bitget are actively adding TON ecosystem tokens to bring in new users.

Regions like the CIS and South Asia, where cryptocurrencies are not yet widely adopted, hold massive growth potential.

🟠 Diversity of TON Projects

The TON ecosystem stands out for its diverse projects:

Notcoin launched mini-apps on Telegram, proving that millions of users can be attracted through Telegram-based games.

Dogs is a meme coin distributed via Telegram without complex game logic, which quickly exploded in the crypto community.

Catizen uses viral mechanics similar to platforms like Pinduoduo to attract new users.

Hamster Kombat is a project with strong ties to the CIS region, attracting users through its gaming mechanics.

🟠 The Power of Russian-Speaking KOLs and Communities

Many TON ecosystem projects are actively promoted by Russian-speaking Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), who use Telegram to manage large communities.

These groups can reach tens of thousands of users, and through cross-promotion between projects, they achieve significant success within the ecosystem.

🟠 What Could Be the Future of the TON Ecosystem?

TapSwap, Blum, YEScoin are Tier 1 projects that are showing strong performance in the CIS region, offering unique user interaction mechanisms.

New user growth may slow down with the launch of additional mini-apps like Catizen and Hamster, as much of the user base is already covered.

The potential of the TON ecosystem is enormous.

Telegram is becoming a crucial platform for crypto projects.

TON’s ecosystem will continue to capture the attention of exchanges due to its scalability and unique integration with a large user base.

Satoshi Tweeted🔑

🔔 New Trend: Social Network Exchange in Telegram

A new format is quickly gaining popularity in Telegram, replacing the traditional tap games.

Special attention goes to the mini-app FRENS FOR SALE — a platform where users can buy and sell "their friends."

What is it?

FRENS FOR SALE is a social network exchange where Telegram profiles become assets.

Each purchase increases the profile's value and ranking position.

The more users you have, the higher your status.

Why is it attracting so many users?

The platform plans to launch a token soon, turning virtual assets into real ones.

🔗 Learn more here: @FrensForSaleGAME

Don't miss your chance to be among the first!

Satoshi Tweeted🔑

🚨 How to Steal $243M and Leave Evidence at Every Step

A story worthy of cybersecurity textbooks.

Grivis (Malone Ayam), Wiz (Vir Chetal), and Box (Jandiel Serrano) attempted to pull off a massive scam.

Spoiler alert: It didn’t go as planned.

How did they manage to steal $243M from the lender Genesis, and what evidence did they leave behind?

🚨 How the Attack Went Down:

1. A call from "Google Support" – hacking the victim’s personal accounts. Classic move.

2. A fake call to Gemini support – supposedly to recover access to the compromised account.

3. Social engineering – convincing the victim to reset 2FA and transfer funds to a compromised wallet.

4. AnyDesk and private keys – the victim shared their screen, and the criminals got access to Bitcoin Core.

🚨 The Thefts:

59.34 BTC — August 19, 1:48 UTC
14.88 BTC — August 19, 2:30 UTC
4064 BTC — August 19, 4:05 UTC

$243M was quickly spread across 15 exchanges and instantly exchanged for Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Monero.

The scheme worked, but then the trio started making mistakes, revealing themselves.

🚨 Wiz’s Blunder:

Wiz revealed his full name during a screen-sharing session.

Audio recordings and chats were full of "Vir" mentions. Stealth level: zero.

🚨 Grivis’ Blunder:

Meanwhile, Grivis was living it up, blowing stolen money on parties in Miami and LA, burning through $500K in a single night.

But where there are parties, there are also cameras – and his friends’ social media posts led straight to him.

🚨 Box’s Blunder:

Box played the role of a Gemini representative.

He accidentally linked "clean" and "dirty" money by reusing a deposit address.

The same PFP on all platforms led investigators to easily track $18M tied to him.

Address: 0x6d865235ebb2504d3478fc1dd839100d210144df

🚨 The Outcome:

Thanks to security teams and Binance’s cybercrime unit, over $9M was frozen.

$500K has already been returned.

Grivis and Box were arrested in Miami and LA.

Satoshi Tweeted🔑