Tether’s 30-Minute Binance Freeze Claim Conflicts With Transaction Times

Tether said it froze more than $1.5 billion in Tether USD₮ (USDT) tied to Binance’s Oct. 29 hack within 30 minutes, but public transaction timestamps place its first major Ethereum freeze 37 minutes after the largest transfer.

The main Ethereum transfer, 1,615,409,498.97 USDT, occurred at 4:24:23 p.m. ET (20:24:23 UTC). Tether’s first freeze at that receiving address came at 5:01:35 p.m. ET (21:01:35 UTC), immobilizing 971,149,299.48 USDT.

Freeze transactions continued through 5:21:12 p.m. ET (21:21:12 UTC). The on-chain tally reached $1.555 billion across Ethereum and TRON; a separate $8.4 million freeze was recorded on Avalanche at 5:07:55 p.m. ET. Tether’s announcement did not specify which event started its 30-minute clock.

Before the first major freeze, two transfers moved $500 million and $200 million from the main receiving address. About $205 million of that amount was later frozen in downstream wallets.

The FBI said North Korea was responsible for stealing more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance. Binance estimated $6.3 billion in losses and said it would cover them using its Secure Asset Fund for Users and corporate funds.