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After her last short message on WhatsApp, saying that she had noticed she was being followed and was waiting for him in her room (at a hotel known only to them), Irene disappeared.
Marcus opened his laptop, reread the letters and messages from Irene, and then immersed himself in studying the transactions. For the world of cryptocurrencies, Tether was a familiar financial instrument. Stablecoin USDT is a cryptocurrency whose price is pegged to the US dollar. It is convenient for making payments, transferring funds from exchange to exchange, and storing funds during crashes. But Marcus, until recently a trader and now a private consultant in blockchain analytics, knew that under the guise of the stability of large crypto exchanges, fraudsters do their dirty work and often hide dangerous secrets.
Although Tether existed on several blockchains, he only reviewed those related to Algorand, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, and Solana. Among thousands of transactions, he saw some strange transfers. Large amounts of USDT were transferred not to exchanges, but to little-known smart contracts masquerading as DeFi protocols. The funds were then broken down into smaller payments and spread across different wallets, before suddenly merging into several node addresses. Using graph analysis, Marcus traced the path to a little-known company in Malta. Some addresses led even further — to the UAE... It was there, behind the chain of cryptocurrency transfers, that what Irene called “the shadow gold reserve of fraudsters” could be hiding.
When Marcus flew to Dubai and met with Irene, he was a little surprised. Although Irene's eyes shone with the same bright blue flame he still remembered, she looked exhausted and nervous.
“They're following me,” she managed to say, when heavy footsteps were heard outside the door. Marcus realized that he hadn't imagined it at the airport—he really was being followed. The armed men already knew that they were together in a room at the BVLGARI Resort Dubai. He and Irene barely escaped through the fire exit, blending in with the crowd of tourists...
When they arrived at the publication's headquarters, the editor, a gray-haired man in his sixties, greeted them with a sincere smile and offered them cold drinks.
“I am pleased with your work. You have obtained the evidence. Thank you. Our competitors are no longer our competitors,” he said.
Marcus extended his hand to him and greeted him. Then he took a glass of mojito, went to the corner of the room where there was an armchair, settled down comfortably, and thought.
Irene had drawn him into this case. She used to be his lover, but now she was just a journalist. Her latest article about Tether, a company that directly owns gold and stores 80 tons of it in its own vault in Switzerland, had become a thorn in the side of its competitors.
During their investigation, they discovered that key transactions took place at night, when traders were least active, in order to get lost in a sea of small payments. Irene obtained copies of supply contracts paid for in USDT, and Marcus used blockchain scanners to prove the connection between “clean” addresses and criminal wallets.
The puzzle quickly fell into place: the Maltese company, hiding behind the stability of large crypto exchanges, had effectively turned into a global safe filled not only with dollars but also with cryptocurrency, hidden from the eyes of investors and regulators. But the deeper they delved into the investigation, the more pressure they felt. Traces of surveillance, calls from unknown numbers, unfamiliar cars outside hotels.
Suddenly, Marcus realized that their old passion had reignited. Two feelings fought in his heart: love and fear for the future.
