Tether on crime

This week Tether, the company behind the massive stablecoin, announced a crime-fighting partnership called the T3 Financial Crime Unit, aimed at spotting illicit use of its coin and freezing funds fast.

Between the lines: The timing might have something to do with a thorough report on the company published by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

Russian oligarchs and weapons dealers shuttle tether abroad to buy property and pay suppliers for sanctioned goods. ... Yet in dysfunctional economies such as Argentina and Turkey, beset by hyperinflation and a shortage of hard currency, tether is also a lifeline for people.

Why it matters: Much is made of the use of tether (and cryptocurrency in general) for crime, but criminals are just like the rest of us — they use useful things.

• Roads, cell phones, duct tape: all great for regular life and crime, too.

Details: The report is worth a full read. They found some compelling anecdotes from tether's use around the world.

• A Russian fixer taking in rubles and turning them into tether, now in French custody.
• CityPay.io, the tether-based system that has rolled out all over the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
• The hijinks that ensued after Venezuela's state-backed oil firm, PdVSA, evaded sanctions by demanding payments in tether.

The bottom line: Tether's market cap is $118 billion, and the company made more profit than BlackRock last year.