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Tether announced on April 23 that it had frozen $344 million in USDT across two Tron-based wallets, in coordination with the Office of Foreign Assets Control and multiple US law enforcement agencies.
The two addresses, flagged by PeckShield, held $212.9 million and $131.3 million, respectively. The freeze was tied to OFAC’s Iran-related sanctions framework and executed before the funds could be transferred further.
Tether Supports Freeze of More Than $344 Million in USD₮ in Coordination with OFAC and U.S. Law Enforcement
Learn more: https://t.co/PFMCimX9hV— Tether (@tether) April 23, 2026
It is Tether’s largest single enforcement action on record, surpassing the $182 million frozen across five Tron wallets in January 2026. Total frozen assets now stand at $4.4 billion across more than 2,300 cases globally, with over $2.1 billion tied directly to US law enforcement. Tether works with 340 agencies across 65 countries.
‘USDT is not a haven for illicit activity,’ said Tether’s CEO Paolo Ardoino. ‘When credible links to sanctioned entities or criminal networks are identified, we act immediately and decisively. Recent events have shown what happens when platforms fail to move quickly: enforcement breaks down, users are exposed, and trust erodes.’
On April 1, North Korean-affiliated attackers drained $285M from Drift Protocol on Solana. Approximately $232M in USDC moved through Circle’s own Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol over six hours, during US business hours, with no intervention from the stablecoin issuer.
ZachXBT was unambiguous: ‘Circle was asleep while many millions of USDC were swapped via CCTP from Solana to Ethereum for hours from the 9-figure Drift hack during US hours.’
JUST IN: Circle has frozen $USDC balances across 16 hot wallets following an ongoing U.S. civil case, per @zachxbt.
The affected addresses belong to exchanges, casinos, and forex firms. Details on the specific litigation remain undisclosed. pic.twitter.com/G5PNMOGW3L
— BeInCrypto (@beincrypto) March 24, 2026
Security researcher Specter added a damning detail: the attacker deliberately held USDC across multiple wallets for 1 to 3 hours before converting, specifically to avoid routing through Tether’s USDT. The implication was clear. The attacker believed Circle would not act. They were right.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire says the firm freezes funds only with a valid law enforcement request or court order, not unilaterally. While legally consistent, critics question the optics, especially after Circle froze 16 unrelated wallets in a sealed US civil case just nine days before the Drift hack. Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart called the stance “weak,” arguing that if Circle has the power to freeze funds, it should use it in cases like hacks.
I hope there's some precedent set. Either you're a decentralized protocol and literally do not have the power to freeze or you're not and you should be freezing hacked funds. This middle ground hand wavy "only with a court order" stuff is weak. Misses the forest for the trees https://t.co/TqzOYKZOvm
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) April 16, 2026
That inaction has since moved into federal court. A class action filed in Massachusetts by Gibbs Mura on behalf of over 100 Drift users alleges negligence and aiding and abetting conversion by Circle. The complaint cites the six-hour window and the prior civil case freeze as evidence that Circle both possessed and exercised freeze authority selectively.
Drift announced on April 16 that it would ditch USDC for USDT in its $147.5M recovery plan, with Tether providing a $127.5 million credit facility.
When the industry faces challenges, Tether steps up. 🛡️
We are leading an up to $150M recovery plan alongside the @SolanaFndn to support user recovery and safely relaunch @DriftProtocol
Watch the video to see how we're protecting the community and expanding $USDT on Solana. 👇 pic.twitter.com/rlDrx1q7kt
— Tether (@tether) April 16, 2026
Solana Foundation president Lily Liu publicly endorsed the shift, calling USDT the ‘original and most liquid stablecoin’ and adding that the broader move was ‘just getting started.’ The implication is an ecosystem-level repricing of stablecoin counterparty risk on Solana, where USDC had previously dominated DeFi settlement.
Here’s why I’m excited about USDT growing on Solana
USDT is the original stablecoin. Still the largest, most liquid base asset in crypto, underpinning the majority of trading activity.
Solana is built for trading, and in markets, liquidity is king. So, the most performant on… https://t.co/mVcTzLW6x0
— Lily Liu (@calilyliu) April 16, 2026
Tether’s April 23 freeze arrives as a direct punctuation mark on that narrative. The company is not just a passive dollar-peg. It is running active real-time monitoring, coordinating directly with investigators during live cases, and acting before funds disperse rather than after. That operational posture, now backed by $4.4 billion in enforcement history, is precisely what Circle’s Drift critics argued was absent when it mattered most.
The $344 million freeze sits within a broader pattern. The US Department of Justice has previously acknowledged Tether’s role in actions that recovered nearly $61 million and approximately $225 million tied to pig-butchering fraud networks. The January 2026 $182 million freeze preceded this one. Each action builds the case that a stablecoin issuer embedded in the global sanctions architecture is a compliance asset, not a liability, to regulators writing the GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act stablecoin frameworks now advancing in the Senate.
Circle’s IPO pricing, down 9.89% on the Drift hack news, and a Compass Point sell rating at $77, reflect the market’s own assessment of which issuer’s compliance posture is better positioned for the regulatory environment taking shape in Washington.
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