According to ChainCatcher, a recent AMLBot report reveals that between 2023 and 2025, Tether has frozen 7,268 addresses, involving $3.29 billion in USDT, with over 53% of the frozen USDT located on the Tron network.
In contrast, Circle has only frozen 372 addresses, amounting to $109 million in USDC, highlighting a significant difference in scale, with Tether's actions being 30 times larger. The two companies employ distinctly different strategies. Tether adopts a proactive enforcement approach, collaborating with 275 global law enforcement agencies, allowing it to freeze suspicious addresses and utilize a destroy-and-reissue mechanism to return funds to victims. In July 2024 alone, Tether froze over $130 million, including $29.6 million linked to Cambodia's Huione Group.
Circle, on the other hand, only freezes addresses in response to court orders and regulatory requirements, with its actions being rare but concentrated. Additionally, Circle does not support a destroy-and-reissue mechanism.
