Update
Tether Addresses Freezes Linked to 94% Drop in Iran-Linked Stablecoin Volumes
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino announced that the company's address freezes have led to a 94% drop in transaction volumes for Iran-linked stablecoins since 2023. Ardoino attributed this drop to a proactive compliance strategy, stating that Tether froze relevant addresses an average of four weeks before official sanctions from the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and Israel's NBCTF. Most of the blocked USDT in Iran-attributed wallets came in two large batches in April and July, totaling over $470 million. Third-party data from TRM Labs showed a significant decline in USDT's share of on-chain volume in Iran-linked wallets, from 67% in 2025 to 14% in August 2026.