Alex Coin 
Tether froze more than $1 million in USDT belonging to a single Ethereum address. The reasons are unknown, but a spokesperson suggested it could be due to a criminal investigation.
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The issuer of the stable currency currency is a medium of exchange that defines value. USDT,Tetherfrozen USDT’s funds from an address a place where cryptocurrency can be sent to and from, in the form of a string of letters and numbers. of Ethereum a decentralized open-source blockchain with smart contracts functionality. unknown who holds over a million dollars in various cryptocurrencies.
As reported byThe Block a file containing information on transactions completed during a given time period. Blocks are the constituent parts of a blockchain.,Tether activated the “ AddedBlacklist “on 30 December last to add the address “ 0xc390A623AABD2964Dc72ed8a8F1BD26A8AAbd200 “to your blacklist. The function freezes USDT coins deposited at that address, disabling the user to move the funds.
It is not clear who owns the address of Ethereum who holds a fortune of USD $1.2 million spread a price difference between asking and selling prices of the asset. across 31 tokens, according to data fromEtherscan.io. It should be noted that the largest volume how much cryptocurrency has been traded over a set period, such as the past 24 hours. of wealth are deposited in the USDT stablecoin, now locked funds, representing USD $1,091,557. The other remaining USD $200,000 is spread across cryptocurrencies such as. Chainlink (LINK), Fantom (FTM), SAND y otros.
Tether blocks suspicious addresses
While the identity of the owner of the address and the reason for the blocking of capital capital is most commonly defined as the large sum of money you would use to invest. is unknown, the report suggests that it may be related to a case of investigation by law enforcement agencies.
A spokesman forTether who was consulted byThe Block declined to share details of the case in order to maintain the owner’s privacy, but indicated that the company regularly works with regulators and law enforcement agencies worldwide, including in any cases related to hacking and scams, to freeze addresses.
“ By freezing addresses, Tether has been able to help recover funds stolen by hackers or compromised by hackers. “, said the spokesman to the aforementioned medium.
As of press time, the USDT issuing firm has not provided any public information about the case.
Tether has frozen funds on other occasions in the past. In February last year, the company froze USD$1.7 million in stolen USDT from an address involved in the hackeo to the decentralized finance platform a place to buy, sell and store cryptocurrency (DeFi), Yearn.Finance. The company did the same two years ago, freezing more than $30 million in USDT after a massive theft from the exchange. KuCoin .
According to data fromThe Block,Tether has blocked more than 500 addresses from Ethereum since it activated its blacklisting function in 2017. . The company also has a mechanism of “ recovery ” which means you can freeze USDTs and then reissue them in certain cases. For example, in cases of USDT transactions to incorrect addresses, you can help recover funds by freezing the USDT sent and reissuing new coins.
Centralized a centralized organizational structure is one in which a single node or a small number of them are in control of an entire network. vs. decentralized Stablecoins
In the past, the extensive capabilities ofTether to freeze and destroy funds from the stablecoins on private addresses has caused controversy in the digital digital technologies are these electronic tools that have the ability to generate, store or even process data. currency community. On Twitter, users have shared their dissatisfaction and some criticism of the company, saying that such actions undermines the decentralized decentralization refers to the property of a system in which nodes or actors work in concert in a distributed fashion to achieve a common goal. nature of cryptospace.
However, the executives ofTether have stated that the company only intervenes in particular cases such as cyber attacks, theft and loss of funds. The CTO ofTetherPaolo Ardoino, had responded to these criticisms in February:
I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that Tether $ USDt is a stable centralized currency that uses blockchains as a transport layer. Among Tether’s duties is the responsibility to act and collaborate with LE and regulators regarding potential unsafe behavior.
Not all cases of blockages ofTether have been linked to hacking hacking is the process of using a computer to manipulate another computer or computer system in an unauthorized fashion. attacks. In fact, in one instance, Ardoino helped a user recover $1 million in USDT he had mistakenly sent to the wrong address.
However, although these functions have been used in some cases for good actions in the past, many users in the community have recommended the use of stablecoins decentralized -such as UST of Terra y DAI de MakerDAO – to prevent an entity from being able to take control of the funds. Other stable currencies such as Circle’s USDC also have blocking capabilities.
