The use of public blockchains makes every tether transaction trackable thus making USDT “an impractical choice for illicit activities.”
I mean really! They are using this fact of blockchain to defend themselves from their usage in illicit activities. I am not saying they are not used in illicit activities nor saying they are not. I mean, Gary the Genlsar is after BTC, and many other SEC officials are too, and they have only one thing to say, BTC is being used in Illicit activities and that's the sole purpose of BTC. Yeah, that's what Gary said in his last statements. And if in the rarest scenario, UNODC considers working with Tether then I don't think there remains any reason for Gary to talk rubbish about BTC.
As these cryptocurrencies are also assets, money, that can be used in bad ways, just like silver and gold, and paper currency. The only thing that hurts them (UNODC and SEC) is, they can't control these technologies, but might make them centralized.