USDC blacklists an address for the first time

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The company that issues the USDC stablecoin has made a landmark move and blacklisted an address holding 100,000 USDC.

Many people are surprised that CENTRE has blacklisted an address; however, it is clearly stated in the company’s policies that it reserves the right to blacklist an address and that they implemented this measure to” comply with legal requirements such as a court order or global sanctions restriction.”

What does it mean to be blacklisted?

When a USDC address is blacklisted, it can no longer receive USDC and all of the USDC controlled by the address cannot be transferred on-chain. Before CENTRE blacklists an address, the CENTRE board of managers votes on the blacklist decision. 

It is important to note that only 1 out of the 182,000 USDC addresses that exist has ever been blacklisted, this represents only 0.000005% of the total number of USDC addresses.  

Tether blacklisted 24 addresses in 2020

Tether has been blacklisting Ethereum addresses that hold USDT for a couple of years now—this year alone, Tether has blacklisted 24 addresses that hold a total of $5.51 million USDT in summation.

Tether has blacklisted a total of 39 out of the 1.47 million Tether addresses that exist, which represents a total of 0.00002% of all tether addresses. When a tether address is blacklisted, it can’t send, receive, or redeem USDT.

Stuart Hoegner, general counsel at Bitfinex, Tether’s sister company, said: “Tether routinely assists law enforcement in their investigations. Through the freeze address feature, Tether has been able to help users and exchanges to save and recover tens of millions of dollars stolen from them by hackers.”

Stuart claims that Tether implemented a blacklist feature because it is beneficial when working with a tether address that may have done something illicit, like hack an exchange or launder money. It also helps law enforcement officials who are investigating an individual who may be the owner of a tether address. 

On a similar note, a CENTRE spokesperson has confirmed that CENTRE froze the Ethereum address holding 100,000 USDT due to a request from law enforcement officials.