In an official statement made by Tether, which the creator of the stablecoin USDT, pegged to the US dollar, the issuer objects to the intention to freeze assets linked by cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash.
In contrast to the freeze/ban by Circle of addresses associated with Tornado Cash. Which Tether believes was premature and might have jeopardized the work of other regulators and law enforcement agencies around the world. Making it a highly disruptive and reckless move.
Tether stated they are in contact with law enforcement almost daily and haven’t received any request to freeze. Although when law enforcement makes a legitimate request, they will freeze and block certain wallets.
“So far, OFAC has not indicated that a stablecoin issuer is expected to freeze secondary market addresses that are published on OFAC’s SDN List or that are operated by persons and entities that have been sanctioned by OFAC. Further, no US law enforcement agency or regulator has made such a request despite our near daily contact with US law enforcement whose requests always provide precise details.”
Tether would like to note that other stable coin issuers, such as Paxos, stands with them and hasn’t frozen Tornado Cash wallets.
Also, its interesting that the company states that when law enforcement ask them specifically not freeze flagged accounts to enable a more complete investigation, Tether will not intervene.
Was the move of USD Circle premature or is it prelude on whats coming?