China’s anti-online gambling campaign has disrupted an illegal ‘fourth-party’ payment processing operation based around the Tether cryptocurrency.

This week, Chinese media reported that the Public Security Bureau in Huizhou City in Guangdong province had arrested 76 suspects involved in a payment processing service funneling funds to and from 120 online gambling sites as well as some fraudulent investment platforms.

The payment platform, which had reportedly been in operation for 15 months before authorities pounced in June, represented a first in China’s long-running gambling payments crackdown in that it conducted transactions in the Tether (USDT) crypto token.

The Chinese platform recruited around 3,000 ‘runners’ to open accounts on the platform and deposit a sum of cash. The accounts would then be used as conduits for payments labeled as legitimate products, but allowed gamblers to make deposits to and withdrawals from gambling sites based outside China.