Tether CEO Defends Company Against Senate Claims Over Iran Activity

Tether is pushing back on a report released last month by Democrats on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which accused the stablecoin issuer of acting as a significant financial lifeline within Iran’s shadow banking network. CEO Paolo Ardoino said Monday that the probe, led by Senator Richard Blumenthal, ignored the positive work Tether does to enforce sanctions.

Ardoino Says Tether Freezes Wallets Early

In a post on X, Ardoino said that since 2023 Tether has frozen suspicious addresses on average four weeks before official sanction designations by OFAC and Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing. He added that in 99% of cases Tether froze the reported addresses before Chainalysis labeled them, and that these actions cut Iran-linked stablecoin volumes by 94%.

What the Senate Report Claimed

The report focused partly on the period before 2024, when it said Tether did not comprehensively freeze flagged wallets. It argued this invited abuse, noting that groups such as Hamas shifted from bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to promoting USDT.

Ardoino at DC Fintech Week

Speaking remotely at the event last Tuesday, Ardoino criticized the report for reaching the media before Tether could review it. He said the goal is to push bad actors out of USDT, warned they are moving to channels outside US control and now outside Tether’s control, and added that the work is not finished.

Blumenthal Widens Tether Probe

Blumenthal is now also examining Tether’s relationship with its US financial partner, Cantor Fitzgerald, which has close ties to the Trump administration. Tether named Bo Hines, Trump’s former White House crypto adviser, CEO of its US division last fall. Rising prediction market odds of a Democratic Senate majority could give Blumenthal far greater power to investigate crypto.