Senate Democrats say Tether’s USDT was used exclusively or predominantly in 84% of more than 800 sanctioned crypto wallets linked to Iran, according to findings from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The same day those findings surfaced, Tether said it had helped freeze about $550 million in Iran-linked USDT this year.

The two developments point to the same network of concerns from different angles. Lawmakers are highlighting how often USDT appeared in sanctioned wallets, while Tether is emphasizing its ability to block funds after authorities identify addresses tied to illicit activity.

Senate investigators focus on USDT’s role

The inquiry was led by Democrats on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations under ranking member Sen. Richard Blumenthal. Investigators said the stablecoin has become a major payment channel for the Iranian regime and has also appeared in networks financing Iran-backed groups, including Hezbollah.

In a June letter, Blumenthal said sanctioned Iranian exchanges continued to deal heavily in USDT. He also asked whether Tether had ever refused requests to block wallets connected to illicit activity.

Tether highlights wallet freezes

USDT is a dollar-pegged stablecoin, and Tether, as its issuer, has the ability to lock wallets that hold the token. In its statement, the company pointed to enforcement actions it says it took this year against Iran-linked addresses.

Tether said it froze $344 million in two wallets tied to Iran’s central bank in April. It also said it froze more than $130 million in four Tron-based wallets in July. According to the company, its freeze mechanism was activated within hours of the Office of Foreign Assets Control adding the wallets to its sanctions list.

Why the headline figures are not the same

The Senate’s 84% figure and Tether’s $550 million figure measure different things. The Senate count describes how many sanctioned Iran-linked wallets were found to have used USDT exclusively or predominantly after those wallets had been sanctioned.

Tether’s number refers instead to the amount of USDT it says it froze once authorities had named specific wallets. The company’s own examples add up to about $475 million, leaving roughly $75 million in the broader total without itemized detail in the statement.

What remains unclear

Neither the Senate findings nor Tether’s release says how much USDT passed through the identified wallets before any freezes took effect. That leaves open the size of the flows that may have moved before sanctions designations or blocking actions were imposed.

For now, the confirmed picture is limited to two points: Senate investigators say USDT was the dominant token across a large share of sanctioned Iran-linked wallets, and Tether says it can and did freeze hundreds of millions of dollars in addresses identified by authorities.

Source: beincrypto.com