# Senate Democrats Accuse Tether of Financing Iran’s Shadow Banking

By Riza Dagoc

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/regulation/25005
Published: 2026-09-28T16:23:01.000Z
Updated: 2026-09-28T16:23:01.000Z
Section: Regulation

> A Sept. 28 report estimates Iran’s network processed $20 billion last year and criticizes Tether’s wallet-freezing response.

U.S. Senate Democrats accused Tether’s USDT of helping Iran evade international sanctions, intensifying scrutiny of the stablecoin issuer’s compliance controls.

The Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said Sept. 28 that Iran’s shadow banking network processed an estimated $20 billion in transactions last year. The report did not specify how much of that volume involved USDT.

The lawmakers also accused Tether of failing to freeze some Iran-linked wallets promptly. Some freezes took weeks, while other wallets suspected of illicit activity were not blocked proactively, they said.

Tether said it had helped freeze nearly $550 million in USDT linked to Iran and maintained direct cooperation with U.S. and other law enforcement agencies to identify and freeze illicit funds.

The dispute adds sanctions-compliance concerns to the broader debate over stablecoin regulation in the United States.