Tether temporarily freezes 1.45 million dollars in THORChain vaults

Stablecoin issuer Tether temporarily blacklisted four THORChain vault addresses on October 9, freezing approximately 1.45 million USDT. CryptoSlate, Cointelegraph, and The Defiant all reported that the restrictions were lifted a few hours later. According to Cointelegraph and The Defiant, network technical co-founder Chad Barraford stated that Tether provided no explanation for freezing or unfreezing the assets. [1][2][3][4][5]

The blacklisting interrupted TRON operations on the network, according to CryptoSlate. The Defiant reported that four TRON addresses were removed from the blacklist at 15:30 UTC with their funds remaining intact. CryptoSlate and The Defiant confirmed that TRON trading, deposits, and swaps have since resumed on the protocol. [1][5]

The Defiant reported that 19 other wallets that were frozen in the same sweeping action remained on Tether's blacklist. CryptoSlate and Cointelegraph noted that the incident highlighted how centralized issuers maintain control over USDT even when tokens are deployed inside decentralized financial protocols. [1][2][3][4][5]

Tether was launched by Tether Limited in 2014 as a digital currency designed to maintain a stable value relative to the United States dollar. Beyond USD₮, the company supports variants pegged to other assets, including the Mexican peso, Chinese offshore renminbi, and gold. [10][12]