Tether and Circle Unfreeze More Than $75 Million in USDT and USDC
Stablecoin issuers Tether ($USDT) and Circle ($USDC) have unblocked 498 wallet addresses holding more than $75 million in assets.
According to USDTBanList, this marks the largest wave of stablecoin unfreezing activity since the beginning of 2026.
Large-Scale Unfreezing Began on May 12
The wave of address reactivations began on Tuesday, May 12.
At approximately 23:26 UTC, Circle reactivated 42 Ethereum-based $USDC addresses holding around $2.5 million.
Later, on Thursday, May 14, at around 14:24 UTC, Tether submitted a request to unblock 50 Ethereum-based $USDT addresses containing approximately $7.5 million.
According to USDTBanList, those transactions are currently awaiting multisignature confirmation.
About one hour later, at 15:29 UTC, Tether also submitted a request to unblock an additional 406 $USDT addresses on the Tron network worth approximately $65.1 million. These transactions are likewise pending multisignature approval.
Once the required number of signatories confirms the requests, the funds will become fully unlocked.
Largest Unfreezing Event of 2026
According to USDTBanList, this is the largest stablecoin unfreezing event of 2026 both in terms of total value and number of wallet addresses.
The monitoring service explained:
“Mass unfreezing events of this scale usually indicate that prior freeze orders have been resolved — either due to court rulings being overturned, law enforcement investigations being completed, or compliance reviews being finalized.”
Analysts believe the simultaneous actions by Tether with USDT and Circle with USDC across multiple blockchain networks may indicate a coordinated unfreezing process, potentially linked to requests from regulatory or government authorities.
Tron Remains the Main Network for Stablecoin Freezes
Over the past month, Tether froze 370 wallets containing approximately $514.64 million in USDT.
Roughly 98% of all frozen addresses were located on the Tron network.
The most common reasons for wallet freezes continue to be law enforcement requests and court orders.
The largest stablecoin freeze in history remains the freezing of approximately 544 million USDT in February this year at the request of Istanbul prosecutors during an investigation into an illegal casino network.
See also: "Bitcoin Bulls Trigger $145 Million Short Squeeze as CLARITY Act Momentum Revives Risk Appetite"
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