The issuer of the world's largest stablecoin conducted a large-scale operation to freeze funds. In the past 24 hours, the company froze assets in USDT worth over $180 million.
The blockchain transaction tracking service Whale Alert recorded a series of five separate actions restricting access on January 11.
Scale and nature of the restrictions
The sanctions targeted wallets operating on the Tron blockchain. The balances of the blocked addresses ranged from $12 million to $50 million. In effect, the issuer instantly removed $182 million from active circulation.
Official reasons for such large-scale seizures have not yet been disclosed. However, the speed and scale of intervention suggest a high probability of coordination with law enforcement agencies. It may also be a response to a critical security incident.
The situation vividly illustrates the paradox of today's digital asset economy. Cryptocurrencies were originally designed as censorship-resistant tools. Yet, stablecoins, which account for 60% of market trading volume, remain strictly centralized.
The Tether operator owns "administrative keys." This tool allows for instant freezing of funds at the smart contract level. The company regularly uses these powers to comply with requests from the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI, and Secret Service.
Shift in trend within the shadow sector
Aggressive compliance policies have become a necessary response to criminal activities. Criminal networks are increasingly favoring dollar-pegged tokens.
Data from analytics firm Chainalysis shows a fundamental shift in the structure of illicit finance. Previously, Bitcoin was considered the primary currency of the darknet. However, by the end of 2025, the share of stablecoins in total illegal transactions reached 84%.
Experts from AMLBot confirm this trend. In a report published last December, massive activity by the issuer was noted. From 2023 to 2025, Tether froze assets totaling approximately $3.3 billion.
Market positions and statistics on freezes
Law enforcement actions primarily affect the Ethereum (ERC-20) and Tron (TRC-20) networks. These are where the asset's highest liquidity is concentrated. During the two-year period mentioned, 7,268 unique addresses were added to the blacklist.
Despite regular interventions and the risk of freezes, the company's dominance in the market remains absolute. The current market capitalization of the USDT token is approaching $187 billion.
According to the data aggregator DeFiLlama, this metric gives Tether control over 60% of the entire stablecoin sector. The total market size of this segment is currently estimated at $308 billion. Investors continue to use the asset as the primary gateway into the crypto economy, disregarding its centralized governance.
