Tether’s Ardoino disputes Iran report with four-week freeze claim

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has challenged Senator Richard Blumenthal’s Iran sanctions report, saying the company has frozen flagged addresses an average of four weeks before official designations since 2023. Summary Four weeks was Tether’s average lead over official designations since 2023, according to Ardoino. 99% of reported addresses were frozen before Chainalysis labeled them, the chief executive claimed. 84% of 846 Iran-linked wallets used USDT exclusively or nearly exclusively, Senate investigators reported. Blumenthal has requested federal investigations into Tether’s sanctions and anti-money-laundering practices. Paolo Ardoino said in an Oct. 19 post that the comparison covered designations by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing. Tether cites earlier freezes in its sanctions defense In his Oct. 19 post, Ardoino accused Blumenthal’s analysis of overlooking the timing of Tether’s actions. His four-week figure referred to an average across freezes since 2023, while the separate 99% claim concerned whether Tether acted before Chainalysis applied labels. Senator Blumenthal's "analysis" of Tether's sanction...