Tether Freezes More Than 4.5 Million USDT Tied to Mercado Bitcoin Incident

Tether froze more than 4.5 million USDT tied to a security incident at Mercado Bitcoin, a Brazilian crypto exchange. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino announced the freeze, linking the token action to the exchange’s security event.

Mercado Bitcoin said it quickly identified and contained a security incident in its systems. The exchange’s statement describes its response, while Ardoino’s announcement describes Tether’s action involving USDT connected to the incident. The updates cover two parts of the same event: Mercado Bitcoin’s containment response and Tether’s freeze of the related tokens.

The announced amount is more than 4.5 million USDT. Mercado Bitcoin’s statement says the incident was identified and contained quickly. Tether’s freeze was tied to the security event at the exchange, while Mercado Bitcoin’s statement focused on the incident in its systems. Ardoino and the exchange each described their respective actions in relation to the same security event.