Tether said it helped authorities freeze nearly $550 million in USDT linked to Iran during 2026, as a US Senate investigation alleged that the stablecoin had become an important channel for sanctions evasion.
The disclosure placed the issuer at the centre of a dispute over how Iran-linked activity is conducted through digital assets—and how effectively stablecoin companies can respond when law-enforcement agencies identify suspicious funds. According to Cointelegraph, Tether made the announcement on Monday as Democratic investigators on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations published their findings.
Tether’s account of the freezes
Tether said it has worked with international law-enforcement agencies for years and that its cooperation this year included several major actions. The company said it froze more than $130 million in USDT across four wallets. It also said it froze more than $344 million in April in funds linked to the Central Bank of Iran.
Taken together, those actions represent nearly $550 million in Iran-linked USDT, based on the figures disclosed by the company. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino argued that the freezes showed USDT was not a safe place for sanctioned entities, terrorist organisations or criminal networks.
The company said its wider cooperation with authorities had resulted in more than $4.9 billion in assets being frozen. More than $2.4 billion of that total was connected to US authorities, Tether said.
Ardoino cited cooperation with the US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Secret Service, Homeland Security Investigations and the Office of Foreign Assets Control, as well as agencies in other countries. He said Tether would continue making its tracing and freezing capabilities available in cases involving terrorism, sanctions evasion, fraud and other serious crimes.
Senate investigators raise concerns
The Tether statement came alongside a report from Democratic investigators on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The report alleged that USDT had become a key part of Iran’s shadow-banking network and a channel for avoiding sanctions.
Investigators said 84% of 846 cryptocurrency wallets sanctioned over alleged ties to Iran had transacted exclusively or almost exclusively in USDT. The finding does not by itself establish that every transaction involving those wallets was illegal, but it highlights the extent to which the dollar-linked token appeared in the wallets examined by investigators.
US Senator Richard Blumenthal called on the Treasury Department and the Justice Department to investigate potential sanctions violations involving the stablecoin issuer. The request adds political and regulatory pressure to questions about how digital-asset platforms monitor and restrict sanctioned activity.
A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency designed to maintain a relatively stable value against an underlying asset, such as the US dollar. USDT is issued by Tether and is widely used for transferring value within crypto markets. Its digital nature can make transactions traceable on public blockchains, while the ability to freeze tokens gives the issuer a role in responding to law-enforcement requests.
Current crypto market picture
Moneyiar market data at 22:03-22:04 on September 25, 2026, showed:
- Ethereum (ETH): $2,681.7028821295, down 0.13% over 24 hours and up 2.05% over seven days.
- Tether USDt (USDT): $0.9998097238, up 0.01% over 24 hours and 0.01% over seven days.
- Chainlink (LINK): $13.7368398226, up 3.56% over 24 hours and 10.94% over seven days.
- Ethena (ENA): $0.2621577355, up 17.35% over 24 hours and 54.44% over seven days.
