Tether says it helped freeze nearly $550M in Iran-linked USDT this year
Victoria Shinder1 min readTether said on Monday that it helped authorities freeze nearly $550 million in Iran-linked USDT during 2026, Cointelegraph reports. The largest single action was in April, when it froze more than $344 million linked to the Central Bank of Iran; the company also listed more than $130 million frozen across four wallets this year.
The statement answered a report released the same day by Democratic investigators on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which alleges that USDT has become a key channel for Iran to evade sanctions. The investigators found that 84% of 846 crypto wallets sanctioned over ties to Iran had transacted exclusively or nearly exclusively in USDT. Senator Richard Blumenthal called on the Treasury and Justice departments to investigate potential sanctions violations.
"Tether has consistently demonstrated that USDT is not a haven for sanctioned actors, terrorist organizations or criminal networks," said chief executive Paolo Ardoino. The company said its cooperation with authorities worldwide has led to more than $4.9 billion in frozen assets, over $2.4 billion of it connected to US authorities.
Why it matters
Both sides are using the same fact. Tether can freeze USDT because it controls the token's contract; the Senate report argues that sanctioned wallets still chose USDT, which means freezing after the fact did not deter its use. How Treasury and Justice respond will show whether regulators see Tether's freezing power as a sufficient control or as proof of how much passes through before it is used.