coindesk.com
Tether froze more than $182 million worth of its USDT stablecoin across five wallet addresses on the Tron blockchain on Jan. 11, according to onchain data tracked by Whale Alert, one of the larger single-day enforcement actions disclosed on Tron in recent months.
The wallets each held between roughly $12 million and $50 million in USDT. The freezes were executed within the same day, suggesting a coordinated action rather than a series of unrelated incidents.
The move aligns with Tether’s voluntary wallet-freezing policy, which it formalized in late 2023 to comply with the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions framework.
Under its terms of service, Tether reserves the right to freeze addresses or share user information when required by authorities or when it deems such action necessary.
USDT, the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, is centrally issued and controlled, allowing Tether to render tokens unusable without seizing them outright. Frozen USDT remains visible on-chain but cannot be transferred or redeemed while the blacklist is in effect.
USDT has more than $187 billion in circulation, accounting for about 64% of the global stablecoin market.