Tether Says It Has Supported Nearly $550 Million in Iran-Linked USDT Freezes in 2026

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• Tether said it has supported freezing approximately $550 million in USDT linked to Iran’s Central Bank and sanctions networks during 2026, including $344 million across two addresses in April and $130 million across four TRON wallets in July
• The company says it has frozen $4.9 billion in assets across its entire history, including $2.4 billion connected to U.S. authorities, while working with more than 340 law enforcement agencies across 67 countries
• Tether also said it has frozen over 22 million USDT across more than 40 cases tied to Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing, involving more than 640 addresses

Tether published a statement on its official news page on September 28, 2026, titled “Tether Has Supported Nearly $550 Million in Iran-Linked USD₮ Freezes as U.S. Expands Sanctions Campaign,” detailing its role in freezing USDT tied to Iranian sanctions evasion this year.

According to the statement, Tether has supported freezing approximately $550 million in USDT connected to wallets linked to Iran’s Central Bank and broader Iranian sanctions networks during 2026 alone. The company pointed to two specific actions: a $344 million freeze across two addresses in April 2026, carried out in coordination with the Office of Foreign Assets Control and U.S. law enforcement, and a $130 million freeze across four TRON-based wallets in July 2026.

Tether said it works with more than 340 law enforcement agencies across 67 countries, supporting more than 2,800 investigations globally, of which over 1,500 have involved U.S. law enforcement specifically. Across its entire operating history, the company says it has frozen $4.9 billion in assets in total, including $2.4 billion connected to U.S. authorities. The statement also detailed cooperation with Israeli authorities, saying Tether has frozen more than 22 million USDT across over 40 cases tied to referrals from Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing, covering more than 640 addresses, including 39 of 187 addresses identified by the NBCTF in September 2025 as linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, representing roughly $1.5 million frozen from that specific batch.

“Public blockchains provide authorities with visibility into fund movements that cash cannot offer, and Tether can act when credible information is provided by law enforcement,” said Tether chief executive Paolo Ardoino in the statement, framing the company’s freeze capability as a compliance advantage over cash-based shadow banking rather than a vulnerability.

The statement lands the same week that Senator Richard Blumenthal’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a report arguing that the large majority of sanctioned wallets tied to Iran transacted primarily in USDT and that Tether’s freeze practices were inadequate before 2024. Tether’s own figures do not directly dispute the subcommittee’s historical findings, but they are intended to demonstrate that its current freeze activity, particularly in 2026, has scaled up substantially, leaving the two accounts, a critical congressional report and a defensive company statement citing its own enforcement cooperation data, to be weighed against each other as the debate over stablecoin sanctions compliance continues.