Over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal reported on the use of stablecoins, specifically Tether’s USDT, to circumvent sanctions imposed by the United States on Venezuela. The report indicates PdVSA, which is the country’s state-run oil company, began demanding payments to be made via USDT in 2020, with as much as 80% of the country’s oil revenue now arriving by way of the stablecoin.

Notably, Tether also froze $182 million worth of the USDT stablecoin in 5 separate addresses on the TRON blockchain on Sunday. At this time, it is unclear if these funds were associated with sanctions-avoiding activity by the Maduro regime. In a statement provided to The Block, a Tether spokesperson indicated these funds were indeed associated with a law enforcement investigation that has been ongoing for months.

The move from Tether is one of the largest amounts of USDT to be frozen by the stablecoin issuer in a single day. According to reports, it represents more dollar-denominated value than its closest competitor, Circle, has frozen in its entire history.