Benesuera USDT Freeze Event: The Sovereignty Dilemma of Stablecoins and the Differences with Bitcoin

Source: BlockMedia Original Title: Does Venezuela’s example reveal the limitations of stablecoins? “Only Bitcoin is a sovereign asset” Original Link:

Structural Limitations of Stablecoins

The freezing incident involving Tether(USDT) used in Venezuela’s crude oil export settlements has drawn attention, highlighting the structural differences between auditable digital assets and Bitcoin.

Analysts point out that since 2020, the Maduro regime has used USDT based on the TRON network to evade sanctions, involving billions of dollars in transactions. However, after U.S. intervention, Tether froze the relevant wallets, immediately blocking the funds.

This case reveals a core lesson: Stablecoins may be useful in crises, but because they have issuers and compliance frameworks, they can be controlled at any time.

“Useful but without sovereignty” - Evaluation of stablecoins

Analysts compare USDT to a “dollar pipeline without SWIFT”—faster and cheaper, but still with a CEO and compliance organizations that must respond to political pressure. In Caracas, there are even cases of elderly people paying management fees with USDT, but the key point is: Usefulness and sovereignty are two different things.

“If someone can freeze it, then it’s not money,” analysts say. This incident publicly proves that stablecoins cannot guarantee national-level financial sovereignty.

The Differentiated Advantage of Bitcoin: Permissionless Final Settlement

From a game theory perspective, countries like Iran and Russia, responding to the weaponization of the dollar, face limited options:

• USDT: proven to be freezeable
• Renminbi: subject to political restrictions
• Gold: difficult to conduct large-scale, rapid international settlements
• Central Bank Digital Currency(CBDC): offers stronger control measures

The only asset that meets the following conditions is Bitcoin:

✓ Supports final settlement
✓ Fixed supply(21 million coins)
✓ No freezing mechanism
✓ No controlling entity
✓ No CEO, architecture that can be stopped with a single phone call

This incident has been called “Bitcoin’s best free advertisement”—the largest and most urgent capital has learned its lesson. Although this realization has not yet been fully reflected in the price, the market will eventually respond.