Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino is pushing back against a Senate investigation into USDT’s use by Iran-linked networks, arguing that the company’s enforcement record tells a different story.

In an October 19 post on X, Ardoino claimed Tether’s actions had helped drive a 94% decline in Iran-linked stablecoin volumes. He also said that, since 2023, the company had frozen the addresses covered by his comparison an average of four weeks before official U.S. and Israeli sanctions designations.

His response puts a practical question at the center of the dispute: how effectively can a stablecoin issuer stop illicit money moving through its network?

Tether points to earlier freezes

Ardoino’s post said Tether acted before Chainalysis labeled the reported addresses in 99% of cases. The sanctions comparison referred to the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing.

Those are company claims. The statement did not provide the underlying dataset, the baseline or measurement period for the 94% decline, or enough detail to reproduce the timing calculations, as crypto.news reported.

Tether has separately cited specific enforcement actions. In a September 28 statement, it reported approximately $550 million in Iran-linked USDT freezes during 2026. It highlighted more than $344 million across two addresses in April and more than $130 million across four wallets in July.

The company says cooperation with authorities allows it to identify and freeze funds linked to criminal activity. That capability is central to its defense.

What the Senate report alleges

The September 28 preliminary report, produced by Democratic staff of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, examined 846 unique wallets sanctioned or targeted for seizure over associations with Iran and its regional proxies.

Investigators found that 84% transacted exclusively or nearly exclusively in USDT. They also alleged that Tether had failed to consistently block illicit wallets, including cases where funds continued moving after designation.

Senator Richard Blumenthal asked Treasury and the Justice Department to investigate potential sanctions and banking-law violations. Those requests are not court findings that Tether broke the law.

Blumenthal announced the report on X on September 28:

Why the percentages do not settle the argument

The 84% and 94% figures measure different things.

The Senate figure describes which cryptocurrency dominated activity in a selected wallet sample. Ardoino’s figure describes a claimed reduction in transaction volume. A high share of USDT usage within that sample could coexist with falling overall activity.

Similarly, an average early freeze does not establish that every relevant address was blocked promptly. Assessing the competing accounts requires matching individual addresses, freeze dates, designation dates and transaction histories.

Why this matters for digital dollars

Blockster’s recent coverage of Circle’s push into 40 new markets shows stablecoin companies pursuing a larger role in everyday business payments. That expansion brings more attention to how issuers identify abuse and respond when suspicious funds appear.

Tether introduced a voluntary wallet-freezing policy in December 2023, extending sanctions controls to secondary-market wallets on OFAC’s designated-persons list. Holding tokens in a personal wallet therefore does not eliminate the issuer’s ability to restrict their movement.

For businesses using digital dollars, the dispute highlights an operational issue: payment speed and availability sit alongside screening, monitoring and the possibility of funds being frozen.

The next scheduled milestone is October 23, the deadline Blumenthal set in an October 8 information request to Cantor Fitzgerald concerning its Tether relationship and compliance oversight.

Ardoino has offered a forceful numerical rebuttal. The evidence behind those numbers will determine how much of the Senate’s case it answers.

Reporting by Lidia Yadlos

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