#数字资产市场动态 【Differences in USD Stablecoin Regulations: The Story Behind the $3.3 Billion Frozen Assets】

Recently, there was an interesting data point—the scale of frozen assets for two major USD stablecoins varies significantly. According to on-chain statistics, from 2023 to 2025, Tether has frozen a total of $3.3 billion in assets, while Circle has only frozen $109 million. This 30-fold difference actually reflects two completely different compliance strategies.

Breaking down the numbers makes it even clearer:

· Tether’s operational力度 is noticeably stronger—they blacklisted 7,268 addresses, over 2,800 of which were frozen at the request of US law enforcement agencies. They also employed a combination strategy: freeze → destroy → reissue, directly recovering funds from scam accounts.

· The highest proportion of freezes occurred on the Tron chain, where over 53% of USDT was frozen, making it a key target for regulation.

· Circle’s approach is almost the opposite—only acting when court rulings or regulatory authorities give clear instructions, freezing 372 addresses, and never reissuing or destroying tokens. Their style is simply “do what needs to be done.”

From a macro perspective, Tether appears to be an active partner in law enforcement, proactively taking action, while Circle follows strict procedures and maintains restraint. This comparison actually highlights a deeper issue in the crypto market: how much authority should stablecoins have to freeze user assets? Is it a necessary tool for security and compliance, or does it, to some extent, contradict the original intention of blockchain decentralization?

What’s your opinion? Let’s discuss in the comments.