Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino rejected a Senate Democratic report alleging that the stablecoin issuer provided a significant financial lifeline to Iran's shadow banking network, arguing that Tether's sanctions controls had reduced Iran-linked stablecoin volumes by 94% since 2023. Ardoino said Tether froze addresses an average of four weeks before formal designations by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control and Israel's National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing, and before Chainalysis labeled the addresses in 99% of cases. The report, led by Senator Richard Blumenthal, examined years before 2024 when it said Tether did not comprehensively freeze flagged wallets and alleged that Hamas shifted toward USDT after previously using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Blumenthal has since scrutinized Tether's relationship with Cantor Fitzgerald, while Tether appointed Bo Hines, Trump's former White House crypto adviser, as chief executive of its U.S. division last fall.