Tether freezes USDT linked to Ledger user thefts near $90 million

Tether has frozen nearly $90 million in USDT tied to thefts from Ledger hardware wallet users, according to The Defiant. The freeze blocks the stolen funds from moving, but it does not send anything back to the people who lost them. The incident surfaced on October 9, 2026. It centers on Ledger devices bought from CryptoBilis, an authorized distributor operating in Southeast Asia. What happened to the Ledger buyers Estimated losses from the thefts exceed $86 million. Some tracking services put the figure closer to $90 million. The stolen assets were spread mostly across the Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tron networks. Tether’s response was to block outgoing transfers from the implicated addresses. The money stays put, but nobody gets reimbursed simply because the account is locked. Ledger says it is investigating. The company has told customers who bought devices in the last three months not to initialize new hardware, and to be careful about moving their assets. Ledger also urged CryptoBilis to stop all sales and shipments. A supply chain problem, not a vault problem The exact cause of the thefts has not been confirmed. Early speculation points to possible tampering somewhere in the suppl...