Tether responded to calls for DOJ action from U.S. lawmakers.

Tether, the company behind the stablecoin Tether (USDT), has released a letter it sent to U.S. lawmakers to address requests for Justice Department intervention regarding illegal use of stablecoins.

The letter was sent to members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services on November 16 and December 15 and details “Tether’s commitment to combat the illicit use of stablecoins.” explained.

The letter aims to respond to calls from Senator Cynthia Lummis and Representative French Hill dating back to last October, stating that the DOJ “is providing material support and resources to support terrorism.” We urge them to “carefully assess the extent to which they provide it.”

The lawmakers made the comments after Hamas launched coordinated attacks against Israel on October 7, which they suggested were partly supported by illicit cryptocurrency trading that “provides significant terrorist financing.”

As part of its response, Tether said it has a know-your-customer (KYC) program, transaction monitoring system, and a “proactive approach” to identify suspicious accounts and activity.

“We have always supported law enforcement agencies when they need to take action and are committed to continuing to work proactively with agencies around the world. Tether targets addresses subject to sanctions, addresses involved in illegal activity, and forms of terrorist financing.”

Tether also claims that customer review does not end with onboarding and that it uses surveillance monitoring tools to continuously track customer activity. “In particular, Tether uses Chainalytic’s Reactor tool and receives secondary market risk reports from the company. These surveillance tools are considered the primary options for blockchain surveillance and are used by many US government agencies to monitor blockchain activity. “

In this regard, Tether announced on December 9 that it had launched a voluntary wallet freeze policy. This provides secondary market controls to freeze activities involving persons sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs). ) List.

Previously, in 2022, Tether refused to proactively freeze wallets associated with irregular activity. However, a strong crackdown on cryptocurrency companies in the U.S. and around the world has forced the company to reconsider its strategy.

“Tether strives to be a world-class partner for the United States as we continue to support law enforcement and expand dollar hegemony globally,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether.

According to CoinMarketCap, a survey of U.S. cryptocurrency companies spanning 2023 shows USDT’s market share reaching $90 billion at the time of this writing.

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