Tether CEO disputes Senate report on Iran-linked wallets

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino disputed a U.S. Senate staff report on the company’s handling of Iran-linked wallets, claiming Tether’s actions reduced related USDT transaction volumes by 94%. Investigators identified cases in which funds continued moving before the company froze the addresses.

In a post on X, Ardoino claimed Tether had frozen the addresses in question since 2023, often at least four weeks before U.S. and Israeli authorities formally designated them for sanctions. He also claimed Tether acted before blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis identified the addresses in 99% of cases.

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations published its report on Sept. 28. Democratic staff led by ranking member Richard Blumenthal examined 846 wallets that had been sanctioned or targeted for seizure because of links to Iran and its regional proxies.

The investigators found that 84% of the wallets used USDT exclusively or almost exclusively. The report examined 39 addresses that Israeli authorities linked to a Hezbollah financier in June 2023.

According to the investigators, Tether froze five of the 39 wallets but did not block the remaining 34 until March 2024. More than $34.6 million in USDT left those 34 wallets after the seizure notice became public, the report said. Investigators acknowledged Tether’s responses in some sanctions-related cases but described its actions as inconsistent.

In its Sept. 28 response, Tether attributed about $550 million in Iran-linked USDT freezes to its actions in 2026. The company cited more than $344 million frozen across two addresses in April and more than $130 million frozen across four wallets in July.

Tether said the April freeze occurred one day before the addresses were formally added to U.S. sanctions lists. The dispute concerns whether the company blocked the wallets quickly enough to prevent funds from moving after authorities identified or publicly targeted them.