Tether said it froze more than $1.5 billion in stolen USDT within 30 minutes of Binance’s Oct. 29 hack. But Bitquery estimated that about $729 million in stolen USDT escaped the freezes, and that roughly $1.76 billion was ultimately frozen. It found that six of the 11 attacker-controlled wallets Tether restricted had already been emptied.
Bitquery also found that freezing one attacker’s wallet did not immobilize USDT the attackers had deposited in Aave’s lending pool. Tether’s Nov. 2 statement did not identify who would receive the frozen Binance-linked funds, the legal authorization for a transfer, or a recovery timeline.
