Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino claims wallet freezes reduced Iran-linked stablecoin transaction volume by 94%, citing proactive sanctions compliance ahead of official designations.
DeFi & Yields ·
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said that wallet freezes have produced a 94 percent decline in stablecoin volumes tied to Iran. Ardoino's statement addressed criticism from Senator Blumenthal regarding Tether's sanctions compliance record, arguing that the company has frozen addresses ahead of official designations by U.S. authorities. According to Ardoino, Tether has frozen addresses on average four weeks before OFAC and NBCTF formal sanction announcements, and in 99 percent of freezes, addresses were blocked before Chainalysis applied its own labels.
Ardoino attributed the rapid enforcement to Tether's law enforcement partnerships. The claim centers on the effectiveness of Tether's proactive approach to sanctions rather than a reactive one, positioning the company's freeze activity as preceding regulatory action rather than following it. The 94 percent volume reduction serves as a metric Ardoino cited to demonstrate the impact of these compliance measures on Iran-linked transaction activity.
Questions remain about whether independent audits or third-party verification support the timeline claims Ardoino made, and whether the volume reduction stems entirely from freezes or reflects broader market shifts.