Tether’s cooperation with U.S. and international authorities has supported more than 2,900 investigations globally, including over 1,600 involving U.S. law enforcement

28 September 2026 – Tether, the largest company in the digital asset industry, today reaffirmed its longstanding cooperation with U.S. and international law enforcement as the U.S. Department of the Treasury expands its campaign against Iran’s sanctions-evasion networks, including through digital assets.

Last month, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Operation Economic Outcast, a new campaign intended to sever the financial networks supporting the Iranian regime and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Treasury specifically identified digital assets as one of five sectors at risk of expanded sanctions.

Tether is fully committed to supporting global efforts against illicit finance – working in close alignment with law enforcement, not through words but through action and precise, real-time support. Tether has repeatedly shown the role stablecoin issuers can play in these efforts. During 2026 alone, actions involving USD₮ have resulted in approximately $550 million in assets being frozen across wallets that U.S. authorities identified as connected to Iran’s Central Bank and Iranian sanctions networks. 

In April 2026, Tether supported the U.S. Government in freezing more than $344 million in USD₮ across two addresses, acting on information provided by OFAC and U.S. law enforcement. The following day, OFAC formally added those same addresses as digital currency identifiers for the Central Bank of Iran, whose sanctions entry is linked to the IRGC-Qods Force and Hizballah. 

In July 2026, more than $130 million in USD₮ across four wallets was frozen as the Treasury expanded the Central Bank of Iran designation to include four additional TRON addresses. 

Together, those actions amount to approximately $550 million in Iran-linked USD₮ frozen in 2026 alone.

“Tether has consistently demonstrated that USD₮ is not a haven for sanctioned actors, terrorist organizations or criminal networks,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. “Public blockchains provide authorities with a level of visibility into the movement of funds that simply does not exist with cash, and Tether can act when credible information is provided by law enforcement. As governments intensify efforts to disrupt sanctions evasion and terrorist financing, we remain in regular and direct coordination with authorities in the United States and around the world to help ensure that illicit funds can be identified and frozen.”

Tether’s cooperation on counter-terrorist financing extends well beyond the latest U.S. actions. Tether has worked with Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) for several years. In 2023, Tether publicly disclosed that, working in alignment with the NBCTF, it had frozen 32 addresses containing $873,118.34 associated with illicit activity impacting Israel and Ukraine. To date, Tether has frozen more than 22 million USDT in over 40 separate cases referred by the NBCTF, involving over 640 addresses. 

That cooperation continued as authorities identified additional networks connected to Iran. In September 2025, the NBCTF published a list of 187 cryptocurrency addresses it said were associated with the IRGC. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic subsequently reported that 39 of those addresses had been blacklisted by Tether, freezing approximately $1.5 million in USD₮ that remained in the wallets.  

Tether’s actions against Iran-linked financial networks are part of a much broader record of cooperation with authorities. Tether works with more than 340+ law enforcement agencies across 67 countries, supporting more than 2,800 investigations globally, including more than 1,500 involving U.S. law enforcement. Those efforts have resulted in more than $4.9 billion in assets being frozen, including more than $2.4 billion connected to U.S. authorities. 

Tether works directly with U.S. authorities, including the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Secret Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control. U.S. agencies have repeatedly and publicly acknowledged Tether’s role in major enforcement operations.

Among them:

• $52 Million Seizure – DOJ Scam Center Strike Force: In September 2026, coordinated action against a marketplace serving scam centres worldwide restrained more than $52 million in a single day. The DOJ thanked Tether “for its proactive assistance in this investigation.” 
• $225.3 million scam investigation – DOJ, FBI and U.S. Secret Service: Tether assisted authorities in what the U.S. Secret Service described at the time as the largest cryptocurrency seizure in its history. The Department of Justice publicly stated: “The Department of Justice thanks Tether for its proactive assistance in this investigation.” 
• $61 million fraud seizure – DOJ and Homeland Security Investigations: In February 2026, federal agents seized more than $61 million in USD₮ connected to an alleged cryptocurrency investment fraud operation. DOJ and HSI publicly acknowledged Tether for its assistance in transferring the assets. 
• $8.5 million investment-fraud recovery – DOJ and FBI: In December 2025, the Justice Department announced the seizure of nearly $8.5 million in USD₮ traced by the FBI to alleged investment fraud. DOJ again publicly acknowledged Tether’s assistance in transferring the assets. 
• Garantex disruption – DOJ, FBI and U.S. Secret Service: Tether assisted U.S. authorities in freezing approximately $23 million in illicit funds connected to the sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex. In announcing the international disruption of Garantex, DOJ publicly thanked Tether for its proactive assistance. 
• $1.4 million tech-support scam recovery – DOJ and FBI: Tether assisted in the seizure of approximately $1.4 million in USD₮ from an alleged scheme primarily targeting elderly Americans. The U.S. Attorney’s Office publicly acknowledged Tether for helping effectuate the transfer of the assets. 
• Terrorist-financing enforcement: In 2025, Tether assisted U.S. authorities in freezing and reissuing approximately $1.6 million in USD₮ tied to Buy Cash Money and Money Transfer Company, a Gaza-based financial network identified in a DOJ civil forfeiture action involving terrorist financing. 

Tether has also aligned its wallet-freezing policy with the OFAC Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List, extending sanctions controls to secondary-market wallets listed on the SDN List.

“Financial crime does not become invisible simply because it touches a blockchain. In many cases, the opposite is true,” added Ardoino. “The record is public: the DOJ, FBI, Secret Service, HSI, OFAC and authorities around the world have repeatedly worked with Tether to trace, freeze and recover assets. We will continue to make that capability available to authorities working to stop terrorism, sanctions evasion, fraud and other serious crimes.”