Tether has announced that it will not freeze Tornado Cash addresses unless instructed by law enforcement.
Tether stated that from time to time, they received instructions from law enforcement to freeze various addresses.
Tether Won’t Freeze Tornado Cash Addresses
Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, said it will not freeze Tornado Cash addresses unless an instruction is received. The following statements were used in the decision:
“So far, there has been no request to freeze addresses published on the Specially Designated Citizens and Blocked Persons (SDN) list of the US Office of Foreign Assets (OFAC) or operated by OFAC sanctioned individuals or entities. There was also no request from any US regulator. Although we are in contact with the US law enforcement agencies almost every day, we have not encountered such a request.”
Tether said that wallets and smart contract addresses were an “extremely destructive” and “reckless” move. He stated that such a move would draw the attention of suspects to an upcoming investigation and could lead to the liquidation of funds and the destruction of evidence.
Currently, individuals and entities in the US are prohibited from interacting with USDC and Ethereum smart contract addresses on the designated Tornado Cash SDN list, and violations of this are subject to stringent penalties.
Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, decided to unilaterally freeze Tornado Cash addresses.
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