Tether, the world's largest stablecoin issuer, has frozen over $1.8 billion worth of USDT in the past 24 hours.
On January 11, blockchain tracking service Whale Alert detected five consecutive freezing measures by Tether.
Why did Tether freeze millions of USDT without prior notice?
The measures targeted Tron-based wallets holding between $12 million and $50 million, with $182 million worth of funds erased from the ledger in a single day.
The reason for this freeze remains unclear, but given its scale and speed, it is highly likely to be either coordination with law enforcement or a response to a major security breach.
This move highlights the contradiction within the digital asset economy. While cryptocurrencies were originally designed to be censorship-resistant, stablecoinsâwhich dominate 60% of the marketâare extremely centralized.
Tether holds an "admin key" on its smart contracts, enabling immediate fund freezes. The company frequently exercises this authority in response to requests from the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI, and Secret Service.
As criminal organizations increasingly shift toward dollar-pegged tokens, such strict compliance measures have become essential.
According to Chainalysis data, the center of illicit financial activity has significantly shifted. While Bitcoin was once the dominant force in darknet markets, by the end of 2025, stablecoins accounted for 84% of all illicit transaction volumes.
Forensic data from AMLBot also supports this trend. According to a report published in December last year, Tether froze approximately $3.3 billion worth of assets between 2023 and 2025.
These regulatory measures have concentrated on the Ethereum (ERC-20) and Tron (TRC-20) networks, where Tether has the highest liquidity. During the same period, 7,268 wallet addresses were added to blacklists.
Despite such friction caused by these freezes, Tether's market dominance remains unshaken.
According to DeFiLlama data, USDT's market capitalization is currently around $187 billion, accounting for about 60% of the stablecoin market ($308 billion).
