Wallex wallet blocked by Tether and Circle during fund transfers to BSC
The issuers of the largest stablecoins — Tether and Circle — almost simultaneously blocked one of the hot wallets of Iranian crypto exchange Wallex. The move came as the platform was transferring funds across multiple blockchains.
The incident was reported by blockchain analyst ZachXBT. According to him, the blocked address held about $117,000 in USDT, USDC, and other tokens, BeInCrypto writes. However, most of the funds had already been moved by that time.
Asset consolidation and fund freeze
Shortly before the freeze, Wallex began consolidating funds from several hot wallets on the Tron and Ethereum networks, moving them into BNB Smart Chain. Cross-chain bridges were used for this purpose — a standard tool for transferring assets between blockchains.
Part of the operation was successful. Around $2.49 million in Binance-Peg BSC-USD was accumulated at a separate address. After that, activity stopped — the funds are no longer moving.
Simultaneous action by Tether and Circle is relatively rare. Such cases typically point to coordinated enforcement tied to sanctions compliance.
Increased control over crypto flows
Wallex itself is not formally listed under OFAC sanctions, but any activity linked to Iran is subject to heightened scrutiny. This creates ongoing pressure on local crypto platforms.
Since 2023, Tether has frozen over $3.3 billion in USDT across thousands of addresses linked to violations. At the same time, regulators have intensified direct measures: in January 2026, exchanges Zedcex and Zedxion were sanctioned for transactions connected to Iranian entities.
Domestic restrictions are also tightening. In March, Iran’s central bank suspended USDT–toman trading on several major platforms, including Wallex, in an effort to curb capital outflows.
What it means for the market
The Wallex case highlights where the main risks are now emerging. Risk is shifting from exchanges themselves to the surrounding infrastructure — particularly stablecoins that can be frozen by their issuers.
For users, this means even liquid assets can become inaccessible. Unlike decentralized alternatives, centralized stablecoins are designed with built-in freezing mechanisms.
It is already clear that major market players are acting in a more coordinated manner. Control over fund flows is gradually extending beyond individual companies to the industry as a whole.
Previously, Tether demonstrated the scale of such actions by freezing around $4.2 billion in tokens linked to suspicious activity. Most of these freezes occurred after 2023 amid increased regulatory scrutiny. The ability to blacklist wallet addresses at the smart contract level allows the company to quickly halt fund movements at the request of authorities.
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