Stick with bitcoin and stay away from centralized crypto, especially stablecoins

[Ucy]

Ofcourse it's far better to trade with Bitcoin than use a centralized crypto controlled (or can potentially be controlled) by people you could clash with in the future, or your adversaries.

Besides centralized cryptos are definitely not true crypto. They are (like) fiat currencies which are typically under individuals, groups or centralized governments control who can force their will on users.
A crypto coin is true crypto when it shares thesame principles with Bitcoin or even has better principles

[Hazink]

I'm not surprised by this at all, the tether is centralized, which makes it scary to hold and what makes it even more dangerous was when they signed a collaboration agreement with DOJ, FBI and other security agencies which I created a thread about back in 2023.  Tether Confirms Extensive Collaboration With DOJ, FBI and Secret Service

These freezed wallets linked to Venezuela are not the last, but should also be part of a reminder to anyone trying to be free that they should do it the right way and not trust a centralized system (tether). 

Tether froze $3.3 billion in assets for two years, which is 30 times the size of Circle In the next report, it is definitely going to be clocking 4billion dollars and above. 

[Cookdata]

I'm not surprised by this at all, the tether is centralized, which makes it scary to hold and what makes it even more dangerous was when they signed a collaboration agreement with DOJ, FBI and other security agencies which I created a thread about back in 2023.  Tether Confirms Extensive Collaboration With DOJ, FBI and Secret Service

These freezed wallets linked to Venezuela are not the last, but should also be part of a reminder to anyone trying to be free that they should do it the right way and not trust a centralized system (tether). 

Tether froze $3.3 billion in assets for two years, which is 30 times the size of Circle In the next report, it is definitely going to be clocking 4billion dollars and above. 

With billions of dollars Tether is making from government bond and treasury bills, if the united states offer them a bounty to go back in time to find Escobar,  they will give out his wallet and froze it quickly if he has one. How many times has the government accused them of not real, sue them for different reasons, we should have seen this coming, you can't operate a large sum of money and not be influenced by politics and the government forced approval on things, "it's either you work for us or we label you as money laundering enablers", that's it.

This alone is an awareness, if there are more people like Maduros that has government wealth, personal wealth settled in USDT would have move them by now, that's if they are smart to do so. This will even give Bitcoin more exposure and more liquidity for holders, they go no where with their funds even if the market is bleeding, more exposures and more holders for long term, the more they enjoy the profit they see, the more they want to stay instead of crappy stable coins that can be seized.

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

Tether froze over $180 million in USDT across five wallets on the Tron blockchain a few days ago. It's believed that those wallets are connected to Venezuela, that used USDT for oil trade and to evade US sanctions. It's reported that 80% of Venezuela's oil revenue is settled in USDT. And what happened? US political interests happened, and that resulted in Tether freezing the addresses.


Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tether-freezes-182m-usdt-largest-105442400.html

The lesson is clear. You don't own centralized stablecoins. You co-own them with the issuer. An issuer that can remove you from the equation at any time. Stablecoins can be a very dangerous double-edged sword, and the way they work is very different from bitcoin.


Rant over!

Use Bitcoin. Everything else is secondary. We don't need any more examples.         

This is typically an eye-opener to the entire crypto community right now, knowing fully well that Bitcoin is the only asset you can hold or invest in and be rest assured of permanent security of funds from third parties. Because not until now, I never knew Tether USDT was this unsecured and loosed that a third party could seize your funds even without your notice or approval. Because it is such a shame, and I'm very such sure right now that the Venezuelan government will now be regretting why keeping such huge sum of money in stable coins instead of Bitcoin where they would have had the maximum security and control over their assets. And I hope with this news, more other government or international instructions will now learn from it to only prioritize Bitcoin and Bitcoin only.

[DeeppRockk]

Tether froze over $180 million in USDT across five wallets on the Tron blockchain a few days ago. It's believed that those wallets are connected to Venezuela, that used USDT for oil trade and to evade US sanctions. It's reported that 80% of Venezuela's oil revenue is settled in USDT. And what happened? US political interests happened, and that resulted in Tether freezing the addresses.

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2026/01/13/UFcmkP.jpeg
Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tether-freezes-182m-usdt-largest-105442400.html

The lesson is clear. You don't own centralized stablecoins. You co-own them with the issuer. An issuer that can remove you from the equation at any time. Stablecoins can be a very dangerous double-edged sword, and the way they work is very different from bitcoin.


Rant over!

Use Bitcoin. Everything else is secondary. We don't need any more examples.         

This is typically an eye-opener to the entire crypto community right now, knowing fully well that Bitcoin is the only asset you can hold or invest in and be rest assured of permanent security of funds from third parties. Because not until now, I never knew Tether USDT was this unsecured and loosed that a third party could seize your funds even without your notice or approval. Because it is such a shame, and I'm very such sure right now that the Venezuelan government will now be regretting why keeping such huge sum of money in stable coins instead of Bitcoin where they would have had the maximum security and control over their assets. And I hope with this news, more other government or international instructions will now learn from it to only prioritize Bitcoin and Bitcoin only.

You're right to be surprised, but this isn't new territory. Remember when Bitfinex lost $850 million in Tether reserves and just printed more? Or when exchanges froze withdrawals during the 2018 crash?
Centralized custodians have always had this power. The real red flag here isn't just the freeze-it's that Tether's compliance team actively helps enforce US sanctions.

That's not a bug; it's a feature of their business model. Bitcoin's value proposition hinges on escaping that very system.

If you're trusting a stablecoin issuer to protect your assets, you're missing the entire point of self-custody.

[Iranus]

This is typically an eye-opener to the entire crypto community right now, knowing fully well that Bitcoin is the only asset you can hold or invest in and be rest assured of permanent security of funds from third parties. Because not until now, I never knew Tether USDT was this unsecured and loosed that a third party could seize your funds even without your notice or approval. Because it is such a shame, and I'm very such sure right now that the Venezuelan government will now be regretting why keeping such huge sum of money in stable coins instead of Bitcoin where they would have had the maximum security and control over their assets. And I hope with this news, more other government or international instructions will now learn from it to only prioritize Bitcoin and Bitcoin only.

This is not the first time Tether has done this. Last year, they also froze Russian funds and the Garantex exchange, or they also froze 41 wallet linked to Venezuela in 2024 for similar reason. 

These news items came as neither shock nor surprise to the cryptocurrency community. Because ultimately, Tether is a centralized organization, they operate within the law and comply with government orders. What surprised me was that after a series of previous freezes, why did Venezuela still choose USDT over bitcoin?

https://cointelegraph.com/news/tether-freezes-27-million-usdt-sanctions-garantex-russia

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/04/24/tether-will-freeze-wallets-evading-venezuelan-sanctions?