Tether Freezes USDT Addresses After Ledger Reseller Theft

Tether froze more than 20 USDT addresses after a cryptocurrency theft involving customers of a Ledger reseller, blocking around $10 million in USDT while some funds moved into another stablecoin on the Tron network.

According to Crypto Briefing, the affected wallets swapped about 14.7 million USDT into approximately 14.6 million USDD through SUN.io on October 9. The move showed the limits of issuer-based token controls.

USDT uses a blacklist function built into its token program, allowing Tether to prevent specific addresses from transferring funds. The blocked assets remain on those addresses but cannot be moved through the network.

Crypto Briefing reported that the total suspected losses were estimated between $86 million and $93 million across more than 300 wallets. Specter initially estimated losses above $86 million, while MistTrack placed the figure closer to $90 million.

The larger share of the funds remained visible on-chain, according to Crypto Briefing. Flagged wallets still contained about $70.6 million, including 11,406 Ether valued at roughly $28 million and 213 Bitcoin worth about $17.6 million.

The incident highlights the different control models between stablecoins issued by companies and cryptocurrencies without a central issuer. A freeze function applies only within the specific token managed by the issuer.

Tether’s actions followed reports of losses among customers who bought devices from CryptoBilis, a reseller listed in Ledger’s directory for Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, according to CryptoSlate.

CryptoSlate reported that Ledger asked the reseller to stop sales and shipments while the company investigated the reported customer losses. Ledger has not confirmed a total damage figure or the number of affected devices.