Senate Alleges Delays in Tether’s Sanctions Compliance Over 34 Addresses

Paolo Ardoino challenged Senate allegations about Tether’s sanctions compliance on October 19, 2026, saying the issuer froze flagged wallets an average of four weeks before official sanctions designations. His response disputes an investigation that identified delays in blocking Hezbollah-linked addresses and prompted Senator Blumenthal to request federal investigations. Key takeaways Ardoino says Tether’s freezes preceded official designations by four weeks on average since 2023. Senate investigators allege delayed freezes affected 34 Hezbollah-linked addresses. Tether reported nearly $550 million in Iran-linked USDT freezes during 2026. A separate forfeiture complaint targets $61.2 million in USDT linked to alleged Iranian oil proceeds. Tether’s sanctions compliance defense rests on freeze timing Ardoino’s defense compares Tether’s actions with two separate benchmarks: official sanctions designations and blockchain analytics labels.

BeCrypto News shows a short excerpt and links to the publisher. The full report belongs to The Cryptonomist.