Tether has frozen more than $344 million in USDT across two wallet addresses on the Tron blockchain, in coordination with the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and U.S. law enforcement.
Tron has become one of the most widely used networks for USDT transfers due to its low fees and high transaction volume, particularly in retail and cross-border flows.
According to an official statement, the action was taken after the wallets were flagged for suspected involvement in illicit activity, including possible sanctions evasion and other criminal activity.
The stablecoin issuer said it acted on verified intelligence provided by authorities to prevent further movement of the funds on-chain.
Blockchain security and analytics firm PeckShield reported that the frozen assets were held across two addresses containing approximately $212.9 million and $131.3 million in USDT.
Once flagged, Tether’s compliance team restricted the wallets at the smart contract level, effectively rendering the assets unusable.
How the Freeze Was Executed
Tether can blacklist wallet addresses through its USDT smart contract, effectively freezing the tokens and preventing any transfers.
The freeze was carried out on-chain after coordination with U.S. authorities. Tether said it regularly monitors transactions and responds to law enforcement requests when credible risk indicators are identified.
Regulatory Context and Enforcement History
The freeze comes amid increasing scrutiny of stablecoin issuers and growing regulatory expectations around sanctions compliance and illicit finance prevention on-chain. Tether said the action was carried out in line with its compliance framework and cooperation with global law enforcement agencies.
The company regularly cooperates with agencies such as OFAC when wallets are suspected of being tied to sanctions violations, fraud, or criminal networks or of other forms of financial crime under investigation.
Tether reports that it works with more than 340 law enforcement agencies across over 65 countries, supporting thousands of investigations globally.
The U.S. Department of Justice has previously credited Tether with assisting in seizures linked to fraud cases, including $61 million and a further $225 million in “pig butchering” scams.
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