Tether froze 1.45 million USDT on TRON, halting THORChain swaps

Tether temporarily froze approximately 1.45 million USDT in four THORChain vault addresses on TRON on October 9, 2026, interrupting swaps and related functions. The blacklist lasted about three hours before all four addresses were released, with their balances intact.

Wu Blockchain, citing The Defiant, reported that THORChain suspended TRON-related swaps and certain functions during the freeze, then restored the affected services after the reversal. THORChain co-founder Chad Barraford said the team had received no advance notice from Tether.

How Tether’s USDT freeze on TRON halted swaps

The blacklisting prevented the affected vaults from transferring USDT, disrupting the pooled assets used to support cross-chain trades. Crypto Briefing reported that TRON-based swaps and liquidity-provider operations went offline almost immediately after the action.

THORChain allows users to exchange native assets across different blockchains without wrapping them or handing them to a centralized exchange. Its vaults hold the pooled assets needed for those transactions.

Tether’s USDT freeze on TRON operated through the token contract’s addBlackList function, Crypto Briefing explained. That control prevents a listed address from sending USDT. In this incident, the tokens remained in the vaults while their movement was blocked.

The reversal covered all four THORChain addresses after about three hours. It did not clear the entire batch: another 19 addresses blacklisted alongside the vaults remained on the blacklist at the time of the report.

Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.