Tether Freezes Wallets under OFAC Sanctions

Tether, the issuer of the popular cryptocurrency stablecoin, has taken a bold step by freezing wallets associated with individuals under OFAC sanctions. In a statement, Tether described this move as a voluntary step to "actively prevent any potential misuse of Tether tokens and enhance security measures." This means that existing wallets on the OFAC list will be frozen, along with any new ones added in the future.

This action appears to be one of the first significant steps taken by Tether's new CEO, Paolo Ardoino, who assumed leadership of the company earlier this month. In the company's press release, Ardoino praised the new policy as an "expansion of our close working relationships with law enforcement and regulatory agencies worldwide."

While Tether has frozen funds associated with unlawful activities in the past, the company had previously refrained from freezing wallets interacting with the sanctioned protocol Tornado Cash, claiming they had not received any requests from U.S. law enforcement agencies. However, today's announcement indicates that Tether has blacklisted Tornado Cash contract addresses.