Stablecoin issuer Tether has taken action by freezing $5.2 million worth of its stablecoin, Tether (USDT), following its connection to phishing scams.
Stablecoin issuer Tether has taken action by freezing $5.2 million worth of its stablecoin, Tether (USDT), following its connection to phishing scams. The frozen USDT was held in 12 Ethereum wallets that were identified as "USDT Banned Address." Tether, recognized as the world's largest stablecoin issuer, has previously implemented measures to address assets associated with hacks, exploits, and scams.
In January 2022, Tether blacklisted three Ethereum addresses containing over $150 million in USDT. In October 2022, the stablecoin issuer froze $8.2 million in USDT on the Ethereum network and added 215 Ethereum-based USDT addresses to its blacklist. Over the past years, Tether has frozen substantial amounts of assets due to various illicit activities. By late 2022, over $360 million had been frozen. Additionally, in the following month, $225 million in USDT linked to romance scams was also frozen.
Collaborating with 24 law enforcement agencies across more than 40 countries, Tether has actively worked together on numerous requests to block wallets. In the past 12 months alone, the company assisted with 198 requests, and over the past three years, it responded to 339 requests from law enforcement agencies.
Tether has also implemented secondary market controls to freeze any activity connected to sanctioned individuals or entities listed by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The centralized nature of stablecoins allows issuers to take such actions and freeze assets associated with illicit activities based on requests from law enforcement agencies. The integration of decentralized ledger technology enables crypto firms to monitor on-chain fund movements.
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