Tether Won’t Freeze Sanctioned Tornado Cash Addresses Without Authorities’ Request

Stablecoin issuer calls the move by USDC to blacklist Tornado Cash smart contracts “premature”

article-image

Source: Shutterstock / DIAMOND VISUALS, modified by Blockworks

share

key takeaways

  • Freezing secondary market addresses could be a highly disruptive and reckless move, Tether says
  • Tether has historically banned more addresses on Ethereum than Circle

Tether (USDT) has not yet received a request from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to freeze the smart contract addresses the agency blacklisted in association with crypto mixer Tornado Cash, the stablecoin issuer said in a post on Wednesday. 

In the case the OFAC does put in an explicit request, Tether would comply, the company added.

“Unilaterally freezing secondary market addresses could be a highly disruptive and reckless move,” according to Tether, which indicated it doesn’t want to risk jeopardizing ongoing investigations, or to cause liquidations or an abandonment of funds. 

The OFAC added 45 Ethereum addresses linked to Tornado Cash to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list on Aug. 8, effectively barring US citizens from using the protocol or interacting with its addresses.

But Hong Kong-based Tether does not support American customers or conduct business in the US. It is thus choosing to voluntarily comply with certain US regulations.

Most of the addresses on the SDN list were Circle’s USD coin (USDC) contracts linked to Tornado Cash. Circle immediately obeyed the sanctions by blacklisting more than 35 Ethereum addresses, freezing $70,000 in USDC.

Tether mentioned Circle in its post, calling its move “premature” if done without instructions from US authorities.

USDT has historically banned roughly nine times as many addresses on Ethereum than USDC, according to data from Dune Analytics. Ethereum researcher Philippe Castonguay has tracked 709 banned addresses since its founding in 2017, while USDC has banned 82 addresses since June 2020.

US Rep. Tom Emmer, R.-Minn., urged Janet Yellen’s Treasury office on Tuesday to expand its Tornado Cash sanctions, saying “expectation of privacy is normal.”


Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening. Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter now.


Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Featured.png

Research

Helium stands at a pivotal moment in its evolution as a decentralized wireless network, balancing rapid growth, economic restructuring, and global expansion. With accelerated growth in domestic DAUs and Hotspots supporting its network, Helium is leveraging strategic partnerships and innovative proposals to scale internationally. The recent implementation of HIP 138, “Return to HNT,” has unified its token economy under HNT, simplifying participation and strengthening liquidity, while HIP 139’s phase-out of CBRS refocuses efforts on scalable Wi-Fi offload. Meanwhile, governance shifts under HIP 141 raise questions about centralization as Nova Labs consolidates control over the roadmap.

article-image

In 2011, WikiLeaks faced a financial blockade imposed by the US government. It was Bitcoin’s first major test.

article-image

Kado’s founder Emery Andrew spoke to Blockworks about the acquisition and what’s next for the team

article-image

LayerZero’s Bryan Pellegrino chatted with Blockworks about the firm’s next steps and its 10-year runway

article-image

Colosseum co-founder Matty Taylor is seeing “high-performance [Solana] founders showing a lot of interest in private trading technology”

article-image

Executives weigh the growth potential they see in the public stock and private credit/equities arenas

article-image

Players can stake ME, trade tokens and link wallets to climb the leaderboard