Today, Tether disclosed that it had placed all of its currencies in cryptocurrency wallets that had received approval from the US Office of Foreign Asset Controls.
Those whose assets have been frozen by the United States Office of Foreign Asset Controls (OFAC) have had their Tether wallets locked, according to a statement released today by Tether, the global leader in stablecoins.
The notice from Tether said that this was an optional precaution to “proactively prevent any potential misuse of Tether tokens and enhance security measures,” and it made it clear that all wallets already listed on the OFAC list would be frozen as well as any future wallets added to the list.
The company’s previous CTO, Paolo Ardoino, took over as CEO last month, and this seems to be one of his first major acts. “Expanding our close working relationship with global law enforcement and regulators” was the way Ardoino put it in the company’s news statement about the new policy.
Tether has blocked funds associated with illegal behavior on many occasions, but it was hesitant to do the same with wallets that used the sanctioned protocol, Tornado Cash, since it said it hadn’t received any requests to do so from US law enforcement. Blockchain data reveals that Tether banned the contract addresses of Tornado Cash after today’s statement.
Also Read: Cybersecurity Researcher Identifies Suspicious Activity Linked To Kyber Network Theft
Wallets