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Tether's Ardoino says Senate Iran report ignores early sanctions freezes

Tether's CEO has pushed back at a Senate Democrats' report accusing the stablecoin issuer of aiding Iran's shadow banking network, saying it freezes suspicious wallets weeks before official sanctions.

Why it matters: The dispute puts Tether's sanctions record and its Washington ties under scrutiny as Democrats press concerns about crypto's use in illicit finance.

InvestIn.News NewsDesk · 1 min read
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Picture from CoinDesk for: Tether's Ardoino says Senate Iran report ignores early sanctions freezes
Image: CoinDesk
Original reporting: Jesse Hamilton, CoinDesk

Key points

  • Ardoino says Tether froze on average four weeks before OFAC and NBCTF designations since 2023
  • He says Iran-linked stablecoin volumes fell 94% after Tether's actions
  • Senator Richard Blumenthal led the subcommittee report, which said Hamas shifted from Bitcoin to USDT

Tether's chief executive, Paolo Ardoino, has rejected a Senate Democrats' report that accused the stablecoin issuer of providing a financial lifeline to Iran's shadow banking network, saying the probe overlooked the firm's sanctions work. In a post on X on Monday, he said Tether freezes suspicious transactions well before US and Israeli authorities formally flag them.

Ardoino said the aim is to push bad actors out of USDT, though he conceded the work is not finished.

The report, led by Senator Richard Blumenthal, the subcommittee's top Democrat, focused partly on the period before 2024, when it said Tether did not comprehensively freeze flagged wallets, and said groups such as Hamas moved from Bitcoin to USDT. Blumenthal has since been examining Tether's ties to Cantor Fitzgerald, and Kalshi odds of Democrats retaking the Senate have been rising.

What to watch: Blumenthal's scrutiny of Tether's relationship with Cantor Fitzgerald continues, with his investigative powers potentially growing if Democrats retake the Senate.

Read the full story on CoinDesk

Live updates on NewsFeeds:StablecoinsDesk editor: Keshav Aggarwal (accountable for this page; this summary was not edited by hand)

How this was produced: an AI model wrote this summary of CoinDesk’s report, which we credit and link above. Read our Editorial and AI policy. Spotted a mistake? See Corrections.

Not investment advice. Read the risk disclaimer.

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