Stablecoin issuer Tether has blacklisted 40 Ethereum addresses holding millions of dollars of the tether cryptocurrency, 24
of which were banned this year. This finding follows the Centre
Consortium taking a similar action due to a request by law enforcement.
Tether Frozen in 40 Addresses
Tether has banned 40 Ethereum addresses holding millions of dollars of the stablecoin USDT,
according to an analysis by Ethereum researcher Philippe Castonguay who
shared his findings on Dune Analytics. Banned addresses cannot receive
or send the cryptocurrency.
The 40 addresses “have been banned from using USDT
on Ethereum as of now,” Castonguay explained. According to the
researcher, one address was frozen in 2017, eight in 2018, seven in
2019, and 24 in 2020 so far. At press time, the latest address on his
list was banned on Friday.
routinely assists law enforcement in their investigations,” Stuart
Hoegner, general counsel at Bitfinex, Tether’s sister company, told
The Block. “Through the freeze address feature, Tether has been able to
help users and exchanges to save and recover tens of millions of
dollars stolen from them by hackers.” The publication added that its
analysis shows that $5.51 million worth of USDT is held in addresses blacklisted this year.
Tether is not the only one freezing its coin. This week, the Centre Consortium blacklisted
an address with $100,000 worth of the USDC stablecoin in response to a
request from law enforcement. Castonguay made a similar Dune Analytics
dashboard to keep track of addresses banned from using USDC, which so far only includes one address.
Meanwhile, the New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division ruled
on Thursday that State Attorney General Letitia James can continue her
investigations into entities behind tether. Bitfinex and Tether are also
involved in another ongoing lawsuit.
source link : https://news.bitcoin.com/tether-freezes-millions-of-dollars-usdt-40-addresses/
