Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin USDT, announced it has frozen more than $344 million in USDT across two addresses on the Tron blockchain. The action was taken in direct coordination with the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and multiple U.S. law enforcement agencies.
The two blacklisted wallets held approximately $212.9 million and $131.3 million respectively. Blockchain security firm PeckShield identified the addresses as TNiq9...QZH81 and TTiDL...pjSr9. Tether acted swiftly after receiving intelligence from authorities linking the funds to suspected illicit activity, including potential sanctions evasion and criminal networks. The freeze prevented any further movement of the assets.
This freeze represents one of Tether’s largest single actions to date, surpassing a previous $182 million freeze across five Tron wallets in January 2026. Cumulatively, Tether has now frozen more than $4.4 billion in assets linked to illicit activity since its inception. Of that total, over $2.1 billion has been tied to cooperation with U.S. authorities.
The company reports working with more than 340 law enforcement agencies across 65 countries and has supported over 2,300 cases globally, including more than 1,200 with U.S. agencies.
The move highlights the dual nature of stablecoins like USDT: highly traceable on public blockchains such as Tron, yet subject to centralized issuer controls. While critics often point to stablecoins’ use in illicit finance, Tether’s proactive freezes demonstrate how blockchain transparency can aid enforcement — a capability traditional financial systems often lack.This latest action comes amid heightened global scrutiny of digital assets, including warnings from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) about the role of “digital dollars” in money laundering and sanctions evasion.Tether has not disclosed further details about the specific investigations, citing ongoing law enforcement efforts.Sources: Tether Official Blog, CoinDesk, Decrypt, Yahoo Finance, Bitcoin.com, and blockchain analytics reports (April 23–24, 2026).