Tether Freezes $13.4 Million in USDT Across 22 Wallets Amid Ongoing Compliance Efforts

Tether Holdings, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, has frozen roughly $13.4 million worth of USDT held across 22 wallet addresses on the Ethereum and Tron networks, according to data from blockchain analytics firm MistTrack.

The company has not publicly commented on the reason behind the freeze, and it remains unclear who owned the affected wallets or how the funds were being used. MistTrack’s analysis shows that one address—beginning with 0xecbd8—held the bulk of the frozen assets, approximately $10.3 million, while another, starting with TYzDeb, contained around $1.4 million.

Pattern of Ongoing Freezes

This latest move adds to a growing list of Tether’s freeze operations throughout 2025. In June, the firm froze $12.3 million on the Tron network, followed by $28.67 million in April across 13 addresses. One of the largest actions occurred in March, when Tether blocked $28 million in USDT linked to Russian crypto exchange Garantex, which remains under international sanctions.

Despite that intervention, blockchain forensics firm Global Ledger later found that Garantex still held around $15 million in active reserves.

Cooperation With Global Authorities

While the company has not confirmed whether the latest freeze was linked to law enforcement requests, Tether has a long history of working closely with international authorities. The stablecoin issuer often acts at the request of organizations such as the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI, or the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), particularly when wallet addresses are suspected of ties to fraud, terrorism financing, or money laundering.

Tether’s compliance operations are part of its effort to align with global sanctions and anti-money-laundering regulations. The company also monitors transactions for links to sanctioned entities, darknet markets, and mixing services like Tornado Cash, freezing funds when suspicious activity is detected.

Legal Pushback

Not everyone supports Tether’s proactive freezing policy. Just a day before the most recent freeze, Texas-based Riverstone Consultancy filed a lawsuit accusing the firm of unlawfully blocking $44.7 million in USDT.

Riverstone claims the freeze, carried out in April 2025 at the request of Bulgarian police, caused significant financial losses by preventing the company from pursuing investment opportunities. The consultancy argues that Tether bypassed proper legal channels under the Bulgarian International Judicial Assistance Treaty, which requires all such actions to be coordinated through diplomatic and central authorities.

According to Riverstone, Tether directed them to contact Bulgarian officials directly, but those authorities never responded.

Tether Supports Canadian Law Enforcement in Recovery of 460,000 USDT from Investment Fraud Scheme - Tether.io

15 September 2025 – Tether, the largest company in the digital assets industry, announced today that it assisted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in recovering approximately 460,000 USDT that was connected to a sophisticated investment fraud scheme targeting an Ontario resident. On July 3, the RCMP Federal Policing Criminal Operations Virtual Assets team executed […]

Tether.io

A Widening Compliance Net

In a September 15 statement, Tether reported that it has frozen more than $3.2 billion in USDT tied to criminal or illicit activity, working with over 290 law enforcement agencies across 59 countries. The company claims to have blocked 3,660 wallets in the past year alone as part of its efforts to ensure the stablecoin ecosystem remains compliant with international financial laws.