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Tether Sued for Allegedly Freezing $42M Before a Warrant

9/2/2026 · 2 min · transcript via whisper

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Key topics

Two Thai businessmen are suing Tether for allegedly freezing $42.4 million USDT months before U.S. authorities obtained a seizure warrant, raising questions about token issuer control over private wallets.

Tether claims the lawsuit is baseless and says it cooperates with global law enforcement; the frozen funds are tied to a Justice Department investigation into $61 million in USDT allegedly stolen through pig butchering scams.

U.S.-spot XRP ETFs have logged 11 consecutive days of inflows totaling approximately $170 million, with cumulative net inflows since launch at around $1.68 billion.

Goldman Sachs disclosed approximately $87 million in XRP exposure at the end of Q2, though this likely reflects market-making and client orders rather than a directional institutional bet.

The SEC convened a September 17th roundtable on 24-hour trading for Wall Street, bringing together the NYSE, NASDAQ, Citadel Securities, DTCC, and Robinhood to discuss extending continuous trading beyond crypto markets.

The SEC proposed a rule redefining transfer agents to account for blockchain technology, allowing blockchain chains to serve as official records of securities ownership.

Market & price signals

XRP has cooled from its late-August rally despite 11 consecutive days of inflows into U.S.-spot XRP ETFs, which pulled in approximately $170 million with cumulative net inflows of around $1.68 billion since launch.

Actionable insights

Understand that stablecoin issuers can potentially freeze tokens in private wallets based on informal law enforcement requests before formal legal process; this highlights custody and counterparty risk for USDT holders.

Monitor regulatory developments around blockchain-based transfer agents and 24-hour trading frameworks, as these could reshape institutional trading infrastructure and market access for digital assets.

Episode sponsorships

Paid placements mentioned in this episode. BTC Pods is not sponsored by or affiliated with these advertisers. Links are included so you can find offers mentioned on the show.

Grayscale — The world's largest digital asset-focused investment platform. Check out The Stack, Grayscale's blog, at grayscale.com/the-stack.

RealFi — A smarter stablecoin backed by real-world assets. Visit realfi.co.