Tether announced the freezing of $344 million in USDT across two wallets linked to illegal activities by U.S. authorities.
“The freezing of funds followed information provided by U.S. authorities to Tether […]. This has become a routine part of the firm's response to legitimate requests from the U.S. and other countries,” the release stated.
Company representatives noted that the tracking of funds was conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
“USDT is not a safe haven for illegal activities,” emphasized Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, commenting on the situation.
This is not the first instance of the company collaborating with U.S. authorities. In February, Tether received thanks from the Department of Justice for assisting in the disruption of a "pig butchering" scam. During an operation in North Carolina, nearly $61 million in funds from the perpetrators were seized.
At that time, the issuer reported a total of $4.2 billion in funds frozen due to illegal activities.
USDT remains the largest stablecoin with a market capitalization of $69 billion, while its closest competitor, USDC, has just over $15 billion.
Source: CoinGecko.Additionally, on April 21, the security council of the L2 network Arbitrum took "emergency measures" and froze 30,766 ETH stolen from the Kelp protocol.