Tether briefly blacklists THORChain's TRON vaults, then reverses course
DeFi & Yields ·
A sudden freeze on four THORChain TRON addresses halted swaps for roughly three hours before Tether lifted the block without explanation.
Tether placed four TRON-based vault addresses tied to THORChain on its blacklist, locking up close to 1.45 million USDT and prompting THORChain to pause TRON-related swap activity and some other functions, according to The Defiant's reporting relayed by wublockchain.xyz. THORChain co-founder Chad Barraford said the protocol had gotten no advance warning that the addresses would be restricted.
The disruption did not last long. Roughly three hours after the initial freeze, Tether removed all four addresses from its blacklist, and the USDT held in them remained untouched throughout the episode. THORChain then brought its suspended TRON services back online once the restriction was lifted.
Not every address swept up in that action was cleared, however. A separate group of 19 addresses blacklisted in the same batch stayed frozen even after the four THORChain vaults were released, meaning the broader blacklisting event was only partially unwound.
Tether has offered no public rationale for why the vaults were targeted in the first place or why the restriction was reversed so quickly. There is also no confirmed link between this freeze and any specific theft or exploit involving crypto assets, leaving the underlying trigger an open question.
What remains unclear is whether the 19 addresses still on the blacklist are connected to the same THORChain-related activity or an unrelated matter, and whether Tether will eventually disclose what prompted the brief action against the protocol's TRON infrastructure.