About Blacklist Watcher
This site shows when Tether and Circle freeze or release addresses that hold USDT and USDC.
What this site does
USDT and USDC are stablecoins. They are tokens on a blockchain, and each token has a value of one US dollar. Tether issues USDT. Circle issues USDC.
The token contracts of both issuers have a blacklist. The issuer can add an address to this list, and it can remove an address from it. Each change is a public transaction on the blockchain.
This site reads these contracts on 19 blockchains. It records each change to the blacklist and shows it with a link to the transaction. The data comes from the blockchain only. It does not come from announcements by the issuers.
This site does not decide which addresses go on the list. It is not part of Tether or Circle.
What the events mean
- Blacklisted
- The issuer froze the address. The address cannot send the token. The tokens stay at the address, but nobody can move them.
- Unblacklisted
- The issuer removed the address from the blacklist. The address can use the token again.
- Funds destroyed
- The issuer burned the tokens at a frozen address. The balance of that address is now zero, and the total supply of the token is lower. The issuer can then issue the same amount to a different address, for example to return stolen funds to the victim.
- Submitted
- On Ethereum and Tron, Tether controls USDT through a multisig wallet. More than one person must approve a change. This event shows that one person proposed to freeze an address. The freeze is not done yet. When enough people approve it, a "Blacklisted" event for the same address follows.
Why an issuer freezes an address
The issuers usually do not give a reason for each address. They publish general rules in their terms of service. The usual reasons are:
- A court order, or a request from the police or from a different government agency.
- Sanctions. The address belongs to a person, a company or a service on a sanctions list, for example the OFAC list of the US Treasury.
- Theft. The tokens came from a hack, a scam or a different type of fraud. A quick freeze stops the thief from moving them.
Circle says that it freezes an address only when the law or a legal authority makes it necessary. Tether can also freeze an address on its own decision, for example after a hack, and it often works directly with law enforcement.
Only the issuer can freeze or release its token. Exchanges and wallets cannot change the blacklist on the contract.
If your address is on the list
This site cannot remove an address from a blacklist. It also cannot tell you why the issuer froze an address. Speak to the issuer directly. If an exchange or a different service holds your funds, speak to that service first.
Be careful of people who say that they can release frozen funds for a fee. Only the issuer can do this.
Official documents
- Tether: Legal and Terms of Service - the rules for freezing and destroying USDT.
- Tether: Law enforcement requests - how agencies ask Tether to freeze an address.
- Circle: USDC Terms - includes the blacklisting policy for USDC.
- US Treasury: OFAC sanctions list search - find out if a name is on the US sanctions list.
Limits of this data
Each blockchain has its own parser. A parser can stop or fall behind. When this occurs, new events do not show here until it continues. The status page shows if each parser is up to date.
All times are in UTC. This site is experimental. It gives no warranty that the data is complete, and it is not legal advice.