#SharplinkAdds10000ETH

Trend of Crypto Asset Freezes Increases, $3.7 Billion in Stablecoins Already Frozen

The practice of censoring or freezing crypto assets is now increasingly widespread. Based on data from the on-chain tracker dashboard stables rip, at least $3.7 billion in stablecoins, equivalent to Rp66.4 trillion, have been frozen by centralized authorities as of 2026. This phenomenon creates a sharp contrast with the original vision of Bitcoin and crypto, which emerged as a solution to avoid censorship. This finding also serves as a reminder to the crypto industry that behind their functionality and practicality, stablecoins remain under the control of centralized entities.
Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC), the two largest players in the market, are centralized authorities that hold direct administrative control over their smart contracts. This power allows them to blacklist specific wallets at any time. When such action is taken, the tokens inside are instantly locked and cannot move. Tether even goes a step further with the destroyBlackFunds function to permanently destroy tokens. For context, in 2025, Tether burned $698 million out of the total $1.26 billion in assets they froze that year.
This trend has accelerated significantly. Of the total $3.7 billion in stablecoins frozen over the past six years, $2.8 billion, or about 75%, occurred within the last 24 months. Stablecoin issuers typically implement this policy as a form of compliance with court orders or government directives related to preventing money laundering and other illegal activities.
This situation poses a challenge to the narrative of crypto as a free financial instrument. Although stablecoins facilitate trading volumes worth tens of trillions of dollars each year, the ability of issuing companies to unilaterally cut off user access shows that these assets are selective. This phenomenon makes it seem as if CBDCs have already arrived in a corporate version.