Iran Uses Tether's USDT to Dodge Sanctions
A Senate report has revealed that Iran's regime used Tether's USDT stablecoin to dodge sanctions, with 84% of sanctioned crypto wallets tied to Iran running almost entirely on USDT.
The investigation found that Iran built a shadow banking network worth an estimated $20 billion in cross-border transactions over the past year, with USDT as its primary currency.
The report highlights how Tether's USDT became the tool of choice for Iran due to its high-liquidity and dollar-pegged payment rail, accepted almost everywhere crypto trades.
Two sanctioned individuals, Alireza Derakhshan and Arash Estaki Alivand, were found to have received over $603 million in Tether between 2021 and 2025, with portions routed through major exchanges like Binance, Bybit, OKX, and Gate.io.