Tether, the company behind the world's largest stablecoin, announced on Thursday that it has frozen approximately $344 million in USDT tokens held across two wallets on the Tron blockchain. This action was taken in response to requests from US authorities, who had flagged the addresses due to suspected links to illicit activities. As a result, further movement of these funds has been prevented. The nature of the activity and the identities of those controlling the wallets were not disclosed by the company.
However, according to blockchain analytics firm AMLbot, the addresses in question appeared in documents and posts related to scams. This development comes at a time when the role of stablecoin issuers in preventing the transfer of funds linked to illegal activities is under scrutiny.
Recently, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) cautioned that stablecoins are increasingly being utilized for illicit transactions, including the evasion of sanctions and money laundering. Public blockchains enable the tracing of transactions, while issuers have the capability to freeze assets under specific conditions. This issue gained attention earlier this month following the $285 million exploit of Drift Protocol, in which attackers transferred large amounts of USDC stablecoin and bridged funds across multiple chains.
Critics argued that Circle, the issuer of USDC, should have acted more swiftly to freeze assets and minimize losses, while the company asserted that it only takes such actions when legally required or at the request of law enforcement and authorities. Tether stated that it collaborates with law enforcement when wallets are linked to sanctions evasion or criminal networks and has supported over 2,300 cases globally across 340 agencies in 65 countries. The company is also expanding its presence in the US market, having launched the USAT token, which complies with federal stablecoin regulations, in partnership with Anchorage Digital, a federally regulated crypto bank, with the effort being led by former White House crypto advisor Bo Hines.
Furthermore, Tether is preparing for a comprehensive audit of its reserves for the first time, a long-promised step aimed at enhancing transparency and aligning more closely with regulatory expectations regarding stablecoins.