- T3 Financial Crime Unit has frozen over $250M in illicit crypto less than a year after launch.
- New “T3+” program brings Binance onboard to enable real-time intelligence sharing.
- Over $3B in crypto stolen in H1 2025, with laundering in some hacks completed in under 3 minutes.
A joint initiative between Tron, Tether, and blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs has frozen more than $250 million in illicit cryptocurrency less than a year after launch, the group announced Tuesday.
The T3 Financial Crime Unit (T3 FCU), formed in September 2024, has worked with law enforcement agencies across five continents to disrupt funds linked to money laundering, hacks, terrorism financing, scams, and other serious crimes.
Binance Joins as First Member of New “T3+” Alliance
The milestone comes with the roll out of “T3+,” an expanded public-private collaboration program that includes exchanges, financial institutions, and other industry stakeholders to share intelligence and respond to threats in real time.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has joined as the program’s first member, already helping freeze nearly $6 million tied to a “pig butchering” scam in their first coordinated operation.
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TRON founder Justin Sun said that the new framework will expand “the scope of collaboration across the blockchain industry to better address illicit activity in real time.”
The Problem: Hacks Are Getting Faster
The T3 FCU’s expansion comes amid a surge in crypto-related cybercrime. According to Swiss blockchain analytics firm Global Ledger, over $3 billion in crypto was stolen in the first half of 2025.
Hackers are increasingly laundering funds at record speeds, sometimes completing the process in under three minutes.
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More than 30% of laundering happens within 24 hours of a breach, leaving compliance teams at centralized exchanges just 10 to 15 minutes on average to intervene before funds vanish.
Only 4.2% of stolen crypto was recovered in the first half of this year, the report noted, with many attacks tied to state-sponsored groups, organized crime syndicates, and transnational fraud rings.
The Newest Threat: The “Embargo” Ransomware Group
Adding to the threat landscape, TRM Labs has tracked a new ransomware group called Embargo, which has moved over $34 million in ransom payments since April 2024.
Operating under a ransomware-as-a-service model, Embargo has targeted critical US infrastructure, including hospitals and pharmaceutical networks, with demands as high as $1.3 million.
Evidence suggests Embargo may be a rebranded version of the notorious BlackCat (ALPHV) group, which vanished earlier this year amid a suspected exit scam.
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