Tether面临参议院对伊朗关联USDT的审查

美国参议院就伊朗关联USDT问题对Tether展开审查

据Crypto.news报道，美国参议院永久调查小组委员会的民主党调查人员发现，在与伊朗及地区组织相关的846个被制裁或面临扣押目标的加密货币钱包中，有84%的交易完全或几乎完全使用USDT。该初步报告于9月28日发布，将这种稳定币描述为伊朗影子银行网络内的“重要金融生命线”，并呼吁联邦当局检查Tether的制裁和反洗钱控制措施。

Tether对此说法表示异议，并声称在2026年协助冻结了近5.5亿美元与伊朗相关的USDT。参议员理查德·布卢门撒尔（Richard Blumenthal）已要求财政部和司法部审查Tether的合规做法。

关键事实

少数党工作人员审查了2021年6月至2026年8月期间由美国外国资产控制办公室（OFAC）或以色列国家反恐融资局指定的846个钱包。调查人员指出，在以以色列机构确定的757个钱包中，87%的交易价值超过80%通过USDT进行；而在101个由OFAC指定的钱包中，57%主要使用该稳定币。

Data shows that when OFAC designated two Iran-related wallets in April 2026, the USDT value held among them was US$344.2 million;Chainalysis found that when they were frozen in July 2026, four Iranian Central Bank wallets held US$131 million. Tether said the actions in 2026 brought the Iran-related freeze to nearly $550 million, part of the more than $4.9 billion frozen in cases around the world.

According to Crypto.news, following a request for records on June 4 (which Tether confirmed but had not responded as of the report's release), Blumenthal sent the findings to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Attorney General Todd Blanche on September 28.

Investigators 'findings

The report is based on more than five years of blockchain records. Of the 757 wallets sample identified by Israeli agencies, 87% had more than 80% of the transaction value transferred through the USDT, while 57% of the 101 wallets designated by OFAC and related to Iran mainly used the stablecoin. In both samples, Bitcoin usage was lower than USDT.

调查人员追踪了流向特定人物和实体的大额资金流动。他们称，两名被制裁的伊朗国民Alireza Derakhshan和Arash Estaki Alivand在2021年至2025年间通过后来被OFAC指定的地址接收了6.03亿美元的USDT。报告的另一个部分审查了两个归因于伊朗央行的钱包，这两个钱包在2025年4月和5月期间仅接收了近5000万美元的USDT；此外，三个被调查人员联系到Modex Exchange Company的钱包在几个月内接收了近6亿美元。报告将该网络与伊朗石油销售以及涉及真主党和胡塞武装相关实体的资金流动联系起来。

在参议院调查之外，Cointelegraph报道称，Tether周一披露了其合作数据，包括今年在四个钱包上冻结了超过1.3亿美元，以及与2026年4月伊朗央行相关的超过3.44亿美元。Cointelegraph还报道说，Tether表示其在全球与当局的合作导致超过49亿美元的资产被冻结，其中包括与美国当局相关的超过24亿美元——这一细分数据并未包含在Crypto.news的报道中。与此同时，Crypto.news提供了小组委员会审查的完整统计基础，包括757个钱包和101个钱包的分类，而Cointelegraph的报道中未包含这些数据。

Tether与调查人员的分歧

争议的核心不在于大量USDT是否流向了与伊朗相关的地址，而在于政府在采取行动后，Tether的行动速度如何。

Investigators allege that certain wallets remained active after terrorist financing designation. One example involved 39 wallets identified by Israel in June 2023 as being associated with Hezbollah-linked financier Tawfiq Muhammad Sa 'id Al-Law. The report said five were initially blacklisted, another 34 were frozen in March 2024, and calculations showed that more than $34.6 million in USDT left the wallets after Israel issued seizure notices.

Tether presents a different record. CEO Paolo Ardoino said USDT "is not a safe haven for sanctioned actors, terrorist organizations or criminal networks" and the company said it has supported more than 2,900 investigations around the world, including more than 1,600 cases involving U.S. law enforcement agencies. It also said 40 cases referred by the Israel Counter-Terrorism Financing Authority involved more than 640 addresses and more than 22 million USDTs.

Independent analytics firms have documented similar activity outside the Senate process. Elliptic reported in 2025 that 187 addresses identified by Israeli authorities related to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) received $1.5 billion in USDT, while warning that it was impossible to verify whether each transaction was directly connected to the IRGC because certain addresses could belong to providers that process funds for multiple customers. TRM Labs tracked more than $6.3 billion flowing through Shelbit between May 2024 and March 2026, of which approximately 88% was through the Tron network, and almost all was through dollar-linked stablecoins. Chainalysis estimates that the value of cryptocurrencies received by sanctioned entities around the world increased by 694% in 2025 compared with the previous year, while emphasizing that illegal transactions still account for less than 1% of the total global cryptocurrency transactions.

Why this matters

The report puts the largest dollar-linked stablecoin at the center of the sanctions enforcement debate at a time when U.S. agencies are stepping up their crackdown on the network of digital assets linked to Iran. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) warned financial institutions in May that Iranian facilitators could use stablecoins because of their liquidity, settlement speed and exchange rate stability. OFAC designated BitBank and related parties on September 17 as part of what it described as Iran's digital asset-based sanctions-circumvention infrastructure.

对于处理USDT的交易所、银行和支付公司而言，实际问题是监管机构将对交易对手进行多少尽职调查。对于一家将发行人级黑名单列为合规特性的公司来说，这封参议院信函是首次正式推动两个联邦部门决定该特性是否得到足够一致的应用以满足制裁法。此外，该报告是以少数党工作人员文件的形式发布的，而非两党共识，这限制了其即时的法律权重，尽管它塑造了政治框架。

值得关注的事项

财政部和司法部是否会回应布卢门撒尔9月28日的转介——以及Tether是否会回答报告中提到的6月4日未获答复的记录请求——将决定这是否会成为一个执法事项，还是仅仅停留在国会施压层面。另外，纽约南区美国检察官办公室于9月14日提起的一项民事没收诉讼，寻求没收约6100万美元的加密货币，检察官 alleges 这些资金来自被制裁伊朗石油的黑市销售。

常见问题解答

2026年，Tether称其在与伊朗相关的案件中协助冻结了多少USDT？

Tether表示，其执法合作支持了2026年与伊朗相关的近5.5亿美元USDT冻结，其中包括2026年4月两个钱包上的超过3.44亿美元，以及2026年7月四个与伊朗央行相关的Tron钱包上的约1.31亿美元。

参议院小组委员会的报告是否代表两党共识？

No. Crypto.news reported that the report released on September 28 was released by the Democratic Minority Staff of the Senate Permanent Investigation Subcommittee and represented the conclusions of these investigators rather than the bipartisan consensus of the entire Senate.

Who asked the Treasury and Justice Departments to investigate Tether?

Richard Blumenthal, the senior Democrat on the Senate Permanent Investigation Subcommittee, sent the findings to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant and Attorney General Todd Blanche on September 28, asking both agencies to review Tether's anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance.

How does Tether respond to the allegations?

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the USDT is "not a safe haven for sanctioned actors, terrorist organizations or criminal networks," and the company said it has supported more than 2,900 investigations around the world.

Has the Treasury or Justice Department investigation of Tether been confirmed?

No. As of September 29, 2026, Blumenthal has asked two departments to review Tether's compliance practices and determine whether they violated federal law; based on reports summarized here, no investigation has been announced.