Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino says the issuer’s wallet-freezing actions led to a 94% decline in Iran-linked stablecoin transaction volume. In an October 19 post, he pushed back against Senator Richard Blumenthal’s assessment of Tether’s sanctions controls, arguing that the company had acted proactively through law-enforcement partnerships.
Ardoino said that, since 2023, Tether froze the reported addresses an average of four weeks before formal sanctions designations by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control and Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing. He also claimed it acted before Chainalysis labeled those addresses in 99% of the cases.
Senator Blumenthal's "analysis" of Tether's sanctions report misses that, since 2023, Tether froze on average 4 weeks prior to OFAC & NBCTF official sanction designation and for 99% of the times Tether froze the reported addresses before Chainalysis labelled them.
Tether…
— Paolo Ardoino 🤖 (@paoloardoino) October 19, 2026
The post does not specify the baseline, measurement period or underlying dataset for the 94% figure. It refers to stablecoin volume rather than the value of USDT balances held by Iran-linked wallets, and does not explicitly define the assets included. The calculation and its attribution to freezes cannot be independently established from the post alone.
The dispute follows a September 28 Senate staff report examining 846 wallets sanctioned or targeted for seizure over links to Iran and regional proxies. Democratic investigators said 84% transacted exclusively or nearly exclusively in USDT and alleged shortcomings in Tether’s freezing practices. Blumenthal requested Treasury and Justice Department investigations.
CoinScreamer previously covered Tether’s disclosure of nearly $550 million in Iran-linked USDT freezes during 2026. That company-reported amount measures assets blocked in enforcement actions, while Ardoino’s latest percentage describes a claimed change in transaction activity. The two figures measure different things.
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