- Tether, a Hong-Kong based company has added three Ethereum addresses to its blacklist that held $150 million worth of the USDT stablecoin.
- The total addresses blacklisted by the blockchain have crossed the mark of 560 since when it did for the first time in November 2017. However, it was the first time in 2022 that blockchain blacklisted addresses. Tether added 312 addresses to its list of blocked addresses.
- Tether did not reveal or give any statement as to why it has blacklisted the three addresses, however, the blockchain has also taken this action in accordance with law enforcement and aid exchanges after cyber attacks.
Tether has always been under the watch of crypto enthusiasts despite its rapid adoption. Decentralization is the most debated topic in the crypto world, however, it failed to get a single mention in Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin whitepaper, from its inception only, it has been a key factor that acted as the base for bitcoin and the crypto industry overall.
Tether is again in news and this time for using its power to blacklist addresses that it believes were involved in crypto attacks, however, it hasn’t revealed many details.
According to Tether Officials, three Ethereum-based USDT addresses worth $150M has been frozen this week. The reason behind the move is “a request from law enforcement.”
Since November 2017, the blockchain has now blacklisted more than 560 addresses. However, it was the first blacklisting act from the blockchain in 2022. Last year, Tether added 312 addresses to the blacklist.
Tether as a centralized company has the power to blacklist addresses that according to it are involved in crime or money laundering or any other criminal activities or any reason it wants.
Tether has yet not revealed the reason behind the blacklisting of the three addresses, it has simply made use of its power to blacklist addresses involved in cyberattacks and law enforcement investigations.
Tether in Sep 2020, after the Kucoin hack, it froze around $35 million USDT to stop hackers from capitalizing on their theft.
Other “precautionary reasons” could also be there for the blacklisting, for instance, association with scams was considered a perfectly valid reason by Eric Wall, CIO of Arcane Asset for a different freeze in the year 2020.
Lack of decentralization could be another factor that is the reason behind the rapid adoption from algo stablecoin blockchain Terra, of the TerraUSD (UST). Currently, Terra is the fourth largest stablecoin and has a market cap of $10.6 billion, according to the coinmarketcap.
However, Tether is the fourth-largest blockchain currently standing at the market cap of $78,422,168,251 with a price of $1.00.