Tether moves to combat child abuse content marketplaces

cointelegraph.com:

Tether aims to increase visibility and mitigate controls of cryptocurrency payments used in child abuse content marketplaces through a collaboration with INHOPE. 

The stablecoin operator will work with INHOPE, a global network combating online child sexual abuse material (CSAM), to share information, collaborate with stakeholders and enforce actions on bad actors from the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph, the collaboration intends to develop a standard practice for the cryptocurrency industry to identify and report these underground marketplaces.

Tether’s CTO Paolo Ardoino said the company was working alongside law enforcement, financial intelligence units, lawmakers and standard-setting bodies globally to establish ‘sensible risk mitigating controls.’

INHOPE has been operating since 1999, with a network of communication hotlines that includes all EU member states, Russia, South Africa, North and South America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

The partnership is driven by a push to disrupt the illegal use of cryptocurrencies to fund exchange of child abuse material online.

Related: Metaverse exploitation and abuse to rise in 2023: Kaspersky

A statement from Samantha Woolfe, global partnerships head at INHOPE, highlighted the fact that these marketplaces made use of every payment technology available, which calls for more collaboration between private and public sector organizations:

Cryptocurrency transactions have been flagged in the past for facilitating the trade of child abuse materials. A report from Chainalysis in 2020 tracked around $930,000 worth of Bitcoin (BTC) payments to addresses associated with CSAM providers in 2019. 

UNICEF called for greater regulatory oversight of