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Magyar20 Oct 2026
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino says a Senate subcommittee report led by Democrat Richard Blumenthal ignores Tether's sanctions work. He claims Tether froze flagged addresses on average four weeks before official designations and that Iran-linked stablecoin volumes fell 94%.
Tether is pushing back against US lawmakers who accused it of helping Iran’s shadow banking system. A report released last month by Democrats on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said the stablecoin issuer had provided “a significant financial lifeline within Iran’s shadow banking network.” On Monday Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the probe overlooked the company’s sanctions work.
Tether’s numbers
In a post on X, Ardoino said that since 2023 Tether froze addresses on average four weeks before official sanction designations by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF). He added that in 99% of cases Tether froze reported addresses before Chainalysis labelled them, and argued that these actions “led to Iran-linked stablecoin volumes declining by 94%.”
Speaking remotely at DC Fintech Week last Tuesday, Ardoino also criticized the report’s release to the media before Tether could review it. “Our aim is to push out the bad actors from USDT,” he said, adding that those actors are moving to means outside the control of the United States and of Tether. He said the work “is not finished.”
What the report said
The investigation, led by Senator Richard Blumenthal, the subcommittee’s top Democrat, looked back several years and focused partly on the period before 2024, when it said Tether did not comprehensively freeze flagged wallets. “This absence of deterrence invited abuse,” the report said, arguing that groups such as Hamas shifted toward promoting USDT.
Blumenthal has since also been looking into Tether’s relationship with its US financial partner Cantor Fitzgerald, which has close ties to the Trump administration. Tether named Bo Hines, a former White House crypto adviser, as CEO of its US division last fall.
Political stakes
CoinDesk notes that prediction market Kalshi has shown rising odds that Democrats could retake the Senate majority. In that case Blumenthal could gain much stronger powers to investigate crypto firms.
What it means for traders
- Freeze risk is real: Tether can and does freeze USDT addresses. Avoid receiving USDT from unknown or high-risk counterparties.
- Political risk for USDT: a change in Senate control could bring more pressure on Tether in the US. Diversifying across stablecoins is a simple hedge.
- Exchange choice: regulated platforms screen deposits more strictly. Compare options in our exchange comparison.
What to watch next
Watch for any formal Senate response to Tether’s rebuttal, further inquiries into Cantor Fitzgerald and the US midterm Senate races.
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News is for information only and is not financial advice. More crypto news