Ledger theft-linked funds shift from USDT to USDD to dodge Tether freezes

A wallet tied to a wave of thefts from Ledger hardware wallet users converted 2 million USDT into USDD. The apparent goal was to move the money beyond Tether’s ability to freeze it. That one swap is part of a much larger pattern. On-chain investigators say approximately $86 to $93 million was drained from more than 300 wallets. How the money moved Investigators traced the stolen funds on October 9, 2026, across several blockchains, including Ethereum, Tron, and Bitcoin. Specter and MistTrack were among the on-chain sleuths following the trail. Tether moved first. The stablecoin issuer blacklisted more than 20 addresses linked to the stolen assets and froze around $10 million in USDT. The suspected perpetrator adjusted quickly. Using SUN.io, they swapped roughly 14.7 million USDT into roughly 14.6 million USDD on October 9. The swap gave up a little value, but USDD sits outside Tether’s freeze controls. The Ethereum side of the operation took a different route. About 430 ETH, valued at roughly $1.07 million, was reportedly run through Tornado Cash. Some of those funds reportedly ended up in Binance hot wallets. What the thief still holds The tagged wallets are estimated to still hol...