Two stablecoin issuers, Tether and Circle, have taken markedly different approaches to freezing assets tied to illicit activity, underscoring a debate over centralized issuer authority in the crypto ecosystem. AMLBot’s research indicates that Tether (USDT) froze roughly $3.29 billion across Ethereum and Tron between 2023 and 2025, while Circle’s USDC saw about $190 million frozen across 372 addresses. The Tron network alone accounted for about $1.75 billion of USDT being frozen, illustrating how regional transaction demands shape enforcement dynamics.
Tether operates with a broad, cross-border enforcement framework, coordinating with 275 law-enforcement agencies across 59 jurisdictions and can block wallets without a court order in cases of hacks or investigative notices. In July 2024, the firm froze more than $130 million in a single month, including $29.6 million linked to the Huione Group. The company reportedly destroys the frozen tokens and reissues new ones to return assets to victims or authorities, and by late 2025 it burned over $25 million in a single month. Such autonomous enforcement has sparked legal challenges, with a Texas-based company suing in April 2025 for allegedly bypassing proper international procedures after Tether froze $44.7 million per Bulgarian police request.
Circle, by contrast, requires a court order or sanction-list basis to freeze assets, and when assets are blocked, the firm holds them in wallets without burning or reissuing until a legal resolution is reached. The ongoing divergence in regulatory approach highlights the centralization debate surrounding stablecoins as the industry scales and seeks clearer standards.
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