PANews reported on October 26 that the U.S. federal government is investigating cryptocurrency company Tether for possible violations of sanctions and anti-money laundering rules, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. The criminal investigation is led by prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan and aims to find out whether cryptocurrencies are used by third parties to finance illegal activities such as drug trafficking, terrorism and hacker attacks, or to launder proceeds from these activities. At the same time, the U.S. Treasury Department has been considering imposing sanctions on Tether because individuals and groups subject to U.S. sanctions use this stablecoin.

In response, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino refuted on the X platform: There is no indication that Tether is under investigation, and the content of the report is old news.