Tether's Freeze Time Leaves Room for Illicit Activity

Tether's USDT stablecoin has become a hotbed for illicit activities as criminals take advantage of the freeze time to move millions in funds before they can be frozen. According to research from blockchain analytics firm BitOK, Tether now completes a typical USDT blacklist faster than a year earlier.

BitOK studied activity from May 1, 2024, through May 9, 2026 and found that the median submission-to-execution window fell from 3 hours 10 minutes to 1 hour 46 minutes on Ethereum and from one hour and 57 minutes to one hour and 30 minutes on Tron.

The research found 107 events classified as clean interceptions in the latest 12-month period, with $127.6 million leaving targeted addresses between submission and execution. This is a significant increase from the preceding year, where $20.9 million was measured across 62 events.