Morning Edition · Thursday, July 16, 2026Published at 1:28 AM EDT · New York
United States Freezes $131 Million in Tether Tied to Iran's Central Bank
The Treasury said it blocked funds across four Tron wallets, showing how dollar stablecoins have become a direct instrument of sanctions enforcement.
The United States has frozen $131 million in Tether's dollar stablecoin spread across four Tron-network wallets that Treasury officials say are linked to the Central Bank of Iran. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the action, accor…
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Dollar Stablecoins Become a Sanctions Chokepoint
Dollar stablecoin issuers increasingly serve as enforcement points for United States sanctions, with issuer-controlled freeze functions turning tokenized dollars into an instrument of statecraft rather than a route around it.
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