Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the company froze cryptocurrency addresses linked to Iran an average of four weeks before they were officially designated by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF). He also attributed a 94% drop in Iran-related stablecoin transaction volumes to these enforcement measures.
The remarks form part of Tether’s response to a U.S. Senate report. However, the company has not disclosed the measurement period, baseline figures, wallet sample or asset coverage used to calculate the claimed decline. Ardoino also stated that Tether had frozen the addresses identified in the allegations.
In a post on X, Ardoino disputed Senator Richard Blumenthal’s interpretation of the Senate findings. His four-week average refers to the interval between Tether freezing an address and its subsequent official designation by OFAC or NBCTF. The separate 99% figure relates to the timing of Tether’s actions compared with labels assigned by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.
The report, titled Tethered to Terrorism, was published on September 28 by Democratic staff of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. It examined 846 cryptocurrency wallets sanctioned or targeted for seizure over suspected links to Iran and its affiliated groups between June 2021 and August 2026. According to the findings, 84% of the wallets conducted transactions exclusively or almost exclusively in USDT.
One case highlighted in the report raises questions about Tether’s claim of acting ahead of official designations. In June 2023, Israel’s NBCTF designated 39 wallets associated with Hezbollah financier Tawfiq Muhammad Sa’id Al-Law. Tether froze five of those wallets, while the remaining 34 continued operating until March 2024. During that period, more than $34.6 million in USDT reportedly flowed out of the wallets.
The report acknowledged that Tether had responded to official designations in certain cases since late 2023. However, it characterized the company’s overall response as inconsistent and uneven. The findings address both the widespread use of USDT by the wallets examined and the timing of enforcement actions, placing Ardoino’s defense against evidence of continued transactions in a specific case.
Tether Reports Nearly $550 Million in Iran-Linked USDT Freezes in 2026
In a separate disclosure published on September 28, Tether said it had assisted with freezing nearly $550 million in USDT linked to Iran during 2026. The amount included more than $344 million held across two addresses in April and over $130 million across four wallets in July. The company did not provide a breakdown of the remaining approximately $76 million.
The Senate report’s 84% figure represents the proportion of wallets in its sample that relied almost exclusively on USDT. It does not measure how quickly Tether froze those addresses. Similarly, the company’s claim of a 94% decline concerns Iran-linked stablecoin transaction volumes, making it important to distinguish wallet usage from enforcement timing when evaluating the issuer’s role in cross-border payments.
TRM Labs estimated that Iran’s overall cryptocurrency transaction volume reached approximately $11.4 billion in 2024 before declining to around $10 billion in 2025, representing a decrease of roughly 12%. Meanwhile, CoinGecko placed USDT’s market capitalization at approximately $183 billion.
These figures provide a broader context for the dispute over Tether’s claimed reduction in Iran-related activity. Given USDT’s significant position in the stablecoin market, the effectiveness of the issuer’s compliance measures remains a key concern for regulators examining how digital assets are used in potentially illicit financial transactions.
Senate Referral Puts Treasury and Justice Departments in Focus
Senator Richard Blumenthal, the subcommittee’s ranking member, referred the report’s findings to the U.S. Treasury and Justice departments. The referral asks federal officials to examine potential violations involving sanctions and banking laws, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Bank Secrecy Act.
The next significant development will be whether either department takes further action following the referral. The report also stated that Tether had acknowledged receiving a letter from the subcommittee in June but had not provided a response by the time the findings were published.
About The Author
More Stories
JPMorgan Forecasts 10% Annual Bitcoin Returns, Outpacing Stocks, Bonds and Gold
Bitcoin Falls to $81,400 as Asian Chip Stocks Slide and Traders Hedge Against Further Losses
Live Updates: AI Selloff Intensifies as Market Uncertainty Continues