Suspected $120M USDT Laundering Sparks 27% Monero Rally
A June 11 transfer of about $120.2 million USDT from a Tron address triggered large Monero buys that lifted XMR about 27%. Tether froze $72.03 million linked to the addresses within a day.
On June 11 a Tron address received roughly $120.2 million in USDT. Large buy orders for Monero (XMR) followed and pushed the coin about 27% higher from early levels, according to blockchain traces and market data. Tether placed a freeze on $72,030,295 of USDT linked to the addresses within a day.
An on-chain investigator publishing under the name ZachXBT traced the outflows from the Tron address. The trace showed more than $17.5 million routed to KuCoin deposit addresses and about $8 million sent to instant exchange services. Just over $8 million was bridged from Tron into Bitcoin and Ethereum via Near Intents. The investigator reported the entity created Monero orders that moved the XMR price from about $330 to $420. The trace indicates roughly $48 million of the original funds were moved to wallets or chains that investigators could not immediately link within 24 hours.
Market data showed concentrated buying against relatively thin Monero order books. XMR reached an intraday high near $475 and was trading around $380 at the time of reporting, up roughly 10% in the prior 24 hours and close to a 27% gain from the early price level during the run. Global XMR turnover over the same 24-hour period was about $303 million.
Tether’s records cited by investigators indicate the issuer blacklisted the linked address and froze the specified $72,030,295 within 30 seconds of detection. In a separate action in April, Tether froze $344 million of funds in coordination with U.S. authorities. The frozen $72 million is expected to be blocked from future transfers, while amounts converted into Monero or moved across chains are not immediately controllable by the issuer.
A similar pattern occurred in April 2025, when a $330 million theft led to a Monero price surge after the thief swapped stolen bitcoin into XMR. Since 2024 several major exchanges removed Monero from their listings under compliance pressure, narrowing the number of venues where large XMR trades can be executed and reducing available liquidity.
Investigators and traders identified the activity through on-chain tracing and visible price action before all transfers were confirmed. On-chain records, exchange deposit logs and market snapshots comprise the primary sources for the reported transfers and freezes.
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