Oct 2, 2026
Tether confirmed freezing approximately $550 million in Iran-linked USDT in 2026, while a Senate Democratic report found USDT dominated activity in 84% of Iran- and proxy-linked wallets studied, calling it a 'significant financial lifeline' for the regime.
Circle and Tether froze a wallet holding approximately $318,000 in stablecoins following a massive $351.6 million hack of cryptocurrency exchange Bitget on Thursday. The freeze covers only a small fraction of the total stolen funds.
Federal prosecutors seized approximately $84.2 million from accounts of Capstone Ltd., a payments firm working on behalf of Tether and Bitfinex at offshore bank EQIBank. Tether stated its exposure represents less than 0.034% of group assets.
Lam Chun-yin, a 32-year-old former China Construction Bank relationship manager, received a four-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to accepting more than $470,000 in Tether to falsely authenticate forged bank instruments worth over $1.6 billion.
Aave Labs announced plans to launch the Aave V4 RWA Hub on Avalanche, a dedicated real-world asset credit market that would allow institutions to borrow USA₮ stablecoins against tokenized collateral. Both the hub and USA₮ listing require Aave DAO approval, with no launch date specified.
Ben Delo donated £36M on Friday and Christopher Harborne matched it Saturday, making the largest single donations in British political history. The UK government criticized the crypto-linked contributions.
BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo and Tether investor Christopher Harborne each donated £36 million to Nigel Farage's Reform UK party within 24 hours, representing the largest single donations in British political history. The combined £72 million ($97 million) is intended to help the insurgent party prepare for the next general election.
Chilean crypto exchange Orionx, backed by Tether, is permanently closing after a forensic audit uncovered more than $7 million in customer assets moved to wallets outside the exchange's control. The company announced it is beginning a permanent shutdown process.
Two Thai businessmen filed a lawsuit in New York federal court claiming Tether froze $42.4 million in USDT across 10 Ethereum addresses at an informal US law enforcement request, more than three months before a seizure warrant was issued. The plaintiffs allege the freeze was unlawful.
Two Thai businessmen filed a lawsuit against Tether in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging the stablecoin issuer froze approximately $42.4 million in USDT across 10 Ethereum addresses four months before any court authorization. The plaintiffs are challenging Tether's authority to blacklist their funds and seeking to recover the frozen assets.
Russia's largest bank announced plans to expand crypto-backed lending beyond Bitcoin, aiming to accept Ethereum and Tether's USDT as collateral as the country prepares new regulated crypto trading laws taking effect September 1.
Stablecoin issuer Tether announced that KPMG U.S. completed its first independent financial audit, issuing an unqualified opinion on the company's 2025 financial statements. The audit, which Tether called the 'largest inaugural financial audit in history,' marks a significant milestone after years of scrutiny and promises to obtain a Big Four accounting firm review.
Tether, the company behind the world's most widely used cryptocurrency token, has reached an estimated valuation of $200 billion, making it one of the most valuable private companies globally despite operating with limited public transparency.
Tether announced a strategic collaboration with First Advanced Data for Artificial Intelligence LLC and BKN301 to use its Hadron platform as core technology for institutional tokenization in Saudi Arabia.
Tether posted $1.5 billion in net operating profit for Q2 2026, down from $4.9 billion in Q2 2025. The company's excess reserves dropped from $8.23 billion to $4.11 billion, while USDT supply reached $184.6 billion and gold holdings increased by 14 tons.
Tether's gold-backed digital asset XAU₮ received Shariah compliance certification from Amanah Advisors in July 2026, allowing Islamic banks, institutions, and individuals to access blockchain-based physical gold ownership without exposure to interest or leverage.
The BIS published research finding that USD-pegged stablecoins like USDT and USDC are largely unaffected by capital controls across 130+ economies, creating new channels for digital dollarization that challenge traditional monetary policy tools in emerging markets.
Twenty One Capital said Jack Mallers stepped down as CEO effective July 20, 2026, to focus on his bitcoin payments company Strike, and its board appointed Raphael Zagury as his successor. Twenty One and Strike also determined that Strike would remain an independent business and would no longer be considered for a combination, while a possible combination with Elektron Energy remains under evaluation.
The Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) has officially recognized Tether Gold (XAU₮) as an Accepted Spot Commodity, allowing regulated firms within the international financial center to offer services involving the tokenized gold product subject to their own regulatory approvals.
Multiple investigations reveal connections between Reform UK leader Nigel Farage's biggest donor and the cryptocurrency company Tether, the world's largest gold purchaser, while separate reports expose far-right political operations running from Montenegro. The controversy intensifies amid Farage's comments on Ann Widdecombe's death.
Stablecoin issuer Tether is launching gold-backed loans through a partnership with Ledn using its XAUT token and investing $20 million in Brazil's Mercado Bitcoin to expand blockchain financial services across Latin America. The moves come as Tether's former CIO seeks to sell his stake in the company.
Adjusted stablecoin transaction volume reached a record $1.79 trillion in June 2026, up 63% from May's $1.1 trillion, according to Visa data. Circle's USDC accounted for approximately 70% of the volume, extending its lead over Tether's USDT.
Stablecoin issuer Tether Holdings led a $1.4 billion Series C funding round for German startup Neura Robotics, which develops AI-powered humanoid robots. The round also included participation from Qualcomm, Nvidia, and Amazon, marking one of the largest investments in physical AI and humanoid robotics to date.
Coinbase partnered with Cardless to launch a stablecoin-backed credit card, while Visa and Mastercard are preparing to enter the stablecoin market and compete over AI agent payment infrastructure, challenging the decade-long dominance of Tether and Circle.
Tether has partnered with Fasset to introduce the first gold-backed Visa card that allows users to spend from their XAUT (Tether Gold) balance and earn cashback rewards in digital gold. Tether has committed $1 million to fund the card's rewards program.
Buenos Aires prosecutors conducted 90 simultaneous raids targeting three fraud rings involving fake trading apps, WhatsApp hijacks, and Chinese-origin schemes, freezing more than 8 million USDT and arresting 24 individuals.
Tether announced plans to launch GEL₮, a stablecoin pegged to Georgia's national currency, in partnership with the Georgian government. This represents one of the first cases of a sovereign government directly partnering with a stablecoin issuer to digitize its national currency on blockchain infrastructure.
Stablecoin issuer Tether posted over $1 billion in Q1 profit and reached a record $8.23 billion reserve buffer, while announcing that its first full audit has begun. The company holds approximately $141 billion in U.S. Treasuries.
Tether has proposed merging NYSE-listed bitcoin treasury company Twenty One Capital with Strike and Elektron Energy, with Strike CEO Jack Mallers and Elektron founder Raphael Zagury taking executive roles. Twenty One Capital shares rose on the news.
Stablecoin issuer Tether announced development of customizable, upgradable modular Bitcoin mining systems in partnership with Canaan and ACME Swisstech, expanding its infrastructure push beyond software into hardware manufacturing.
JPMorgan analysts reported that persistent hacks, including the $290 million KelpDAO exploit, and flat ETH-denominated growth are pushing investors toward Tether's USDT as users move funds out of DeFi during stress periods.
The U.S. Treasury sanctioned Iran-linked cryptocurrency wallets containing $344 million in USDT that Tether had frozen following a law enforcement request. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated the action is part of 'Economic Fury' efforts to choke off financial lifelines to the Iranian regime.
Tether disclosed a nearly 2 million-share stake (8.2%) in Nasdaq-listed Antalpha, a Bitcoin mining finance platform, as the stablecoin issuer expands investments across crypto infrastructure. Tether also participated in an $8 million funding round for UAE tokenization firm Kaio.
Tether announced a $150 million recovery program for Drift Protocol following the $280 million exploit, with the funding contingent on Drift switching from USDC to USDT as its primary settlement asset. The total recovery plan reaches $147.5-$148 million when combined with other sources.
Cantor Fitzgerald contributed $10 million to the Crypto Fellowship PAC, which is led by Tether's head of government affairs and has disclosed $11 million in total funding. The committee spent $3 million on advertising through a firm co-founded by Tether US CEO Bo Hines.
Stablecoin issuer Tether transferred approximately $70 million in Bitcoin to its reserve wallet, bringing total holdings above 97,000 BTC worth over $7.1 billion as part of its strategy to allocate up to 15% of profits into Bitcoin.
A joint U.S., UK, and Canadian operation called Operation Atlantic froze over $12 million tied to cryptocurrency approval phishing scams, disrupted more than 120 fraud domains, and identified over 20,000 victims. Crypto firms including Coinbase and Kraken participated in the effort.
Circle has unveiled plans to make its Arc layer-1 blockchain quantum-resistant from day one, allowing users to create wallets that can withstand future quantum computer attacks. The move comes amid growing concerns that 'Q-Day' may arrive sooner than anticipated.
Stablecoin issuer Tether has hired Big Four accounting firm KPMG to conduct its first full independent audit of USDT reserves and brought in PwC to prepare internal systems, according to the Financial Times. The move comes as Tether pursues regulatory approval under the GENIUS Act and eyes a multibillion-dollar equity raise.