Tether freezes all OFAC-sanctioned wallets in ‘proactive’ security measure

Tether, the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin, has frozen the wallets of individuals sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Asset Controls (OFAC), the company announced today.

In its announcement, Tether framed the move as a voluntary step to “proactively prevent any potential misuse of Tether tokens and enhance security measures,” and clarified that existing wallets on the OFAC list would be frozen along with any new wallets added in the future.

The move appears to be one of the first significant moves made by CEO Paolo Ardoino, the company’s former CTO who took the helm this month. Ardoino praised the new policy as “expanding our close working relationship with global law enforcement and regulators” in the company’s press release.

While Tether has frozen funds related to unlawful activity several times in the past, the company had been reluctant to freeze wallets which interacted with sanctioned protocol Tornado Cash, claiming it had not received any requests from U.S. law enforcement to do so. Following today’s announcement, blockchain records show Tether blacklisted Tornado Cash’s contract addresses.