Tether Freezes $550M in Iran-Linked Stablecoins Amid Growing Sanctions Crackdown
Tether has helped US authorities freeze nearly $550 million in Iran-linked USDT this year.
The company acted on information from the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and US law enforcement, freezing more than $344 million in USDT across two TRON addresses in April. These addresses were added to OFAC's sanctions entry for the Central Bank of Iran on April 24.
The Treasury Names Crypto a Sanctions Target, linking the central bank to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Qods Force and Hezbollah. In July, four more TRON addresses were added to the same entry, with Tether freezing over $130 million in USDT across those wallets.
Tether's CEO Paolo Ardoino stated, 'Public blockchains provide authorities with a level of visibility into the movement of funds that simply does not exist with cash, and Tether can act when credible information is provided by law enforcement.'
The freezes come as part of a broader crackdown on Iranian financial networks. In June, the US Treasury sanctioned Nobitex, Iran's largest crypto exchange, alleging it helped the central bank obtain stablecoins used to support the falling rial.