Tether, Circle Blacklist Iranian Exchange Wallex Wallet Amid Ongoing War

Stablecoin giants Tether and Circle have reportedly frozen funds linked to an Iranian crypto exchange. The platforms targeted a wallet belonging to Wallex, locking $117,000 in USDT and USDC. They have also halted the exchange’s movement of assets across blockchains.

Tether, Circle Halt Wallex Funds Across Chains

The latest reports reveal that Circle and Tether have taken joint action to block crypto wallet addresses linked to Iranian crypto exchange Wallex. The platform blacklisted an Ethereum wallet linked to Wallex, freezing stablecoins while the exchange was shifting funds across blockchains.

Now, the wallets cannot send or receive USDT or USDC. It was reported that around $2.49 million was moved into wallets that were later frozen, and no funds were withdrawn after the freeze took effect. However, Wallex hasn’t been officially sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. But crypto activity linked to Iran still faces broad sanctions risks.

The move comes on the heels of a notable fall in the shares of Circle. As CoinGape reported, the Circle stock fell by 17% as Tether was preparing for the first full audit for USDT.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT reported the incident on March 25. The freeze affected a wallet (0x6926…43df) that held about $117,000 in Tether, USD Coin, and a few smaller coins. It is also worth noting that the entire exchange has not been shut down. Instead, only specific wallets that were flagged as non-compliant were affected.

So far, Wallex hasn’t made any public statement, and its website is still running. The $2.49 million moved to BSC remains untouched, and more wallets linked to the exchange could be at risk of being frozen.

Rising Pressure on Iran-Linked Crypto Platforms

Significantly, Tether and Circle’s coordinated action on the crypto exchange comes as part of a growing trend of stricter action against Iran-linked platforms. Tether alone has blacklisted more than $3.3 billion worth of USDT across over 7,000 wallets since 2023.

In January 2026, the Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two UK-registered exchanges, Zedcex and Zedxion. This is reportedly for handling over $1 billion in transactions linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

At the same time, pressure is increasing inside Iran. The country’s central bank recently asked major exchanges like Wallex and Nobitex to pause USDT-to-toman trading to limit money leaving the country after recent geopolitical tensions.