Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, challenged a report from Democratic staff of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that criticized the USDT issuer’s slow response to freezing Iran-linked wallets. Ardoino claims Tether’s actions caused a 94% drop in Iran-linked stablecoin transaction volumes. Senate investigators identified 846 wallets linked to Iran and its proxy regional, with 84% transacting only or almost entirely in USDT. Among 39 addresses linked to a Hezbollah financier flagged by Israeli authorities in June 2023, Tether immediately froze only 5 and waited until March 2024 to block the remaining 34, allowing more than $34.6 million in USDT to leave those wallets after the seizure notice became public. Tether responded by highlighting that it froze approximately $550 million in Iran-linked USDT, including over $344 million across two addresses in April and over $130 million across four wallets in July, with the April action preceding the official U.S. sanctions listing by one day.
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